The money behind Coventry City: How Doug King built his fortune | OneFootball

King completed a takeover of the Sky Blues in January 2023.

Coventry City owner Doug King has overseen improvements both on and off the pitch since completing a takeover of the club in January 2023.

Since King bought out Sisu, the Sky Blues have reached a Championship play-off final and an FA Cup semi-final, while they will be hoping Frank Lampard can take them into the Premier League during the coming years, leaving their League Two days under previous ownership as a distant memory.

Coventry recently completed the purchase of the Coventry Building Society Arena from Frasers Group, with their agreement to play at the stadium having previously been set to expire at the end of the 2027/28 season, which King labelled a "statement of ambition and belief in Coventry."

Meanwhile, King has invested in the playing squad that is tasked with competing for promotion from the Championship during his time at the club, despite the fact many Sky Blues supporters would have hoped to see a few more players brought in to strengthen Lampard's squad for the 2025/26 campaign.

Coventry signed full-back Kaine Kesler-Hayden from Aston Villa in a deal worth around £3.5 million following his impressive loan spell at Preston North End, before bringing in centre-back Luke Woolfenden from Ipswich Town for a fee in the region of £4 million on transfer deadline day.

With the Sky Blues seemingly in a promising position under King's ownership, let's take a look at how the Lowestoft-born businessman made his money.

How Coventry City owner Doug King made his money

When you take a look at King's career prior to completing a takeover of Coventry City, it is clear to see that he knows how to operate a company at the highest level.

King left Loughborough University as a Bachelor of Science and with a degree in Mathematical Engineering, before starting his career with food company Cargill in 1990. He was based in Switzerland as a manager of oil trading from 1997 until 2000.

He left to become head of oil trading for Crown Resources, before going on to work as a consultant for Catequil Asset Management in New York between 2003 and 2004.

He and business partner Michael Coleman founded Aisling Analytics, which later changed its name to RCMA Capital LLP, that same year.

King has been the CEO of RCMA Capital since then, as well as being the chairman of RCMA Group since 2010.

The company is the investment manager of The Merchant Commodity Fund, and say they provide 'a fundamental approach to investing in commodity markets based on a detailed understanding of supply and demand dynamics and an extensive knowledge of the real world.'

RCMA Capital LLP usually oversees investments of over $400 million, but that is not the only business he currently operates in. King has also been CEO of Yelo Enterprises, a company utilising renewable energy to process oilseed, since April 2020.

King will hope to experience success at Coventry

There have been signs that King's skills from the business world have transferred to owning a football club, as Coventry have been to Wembley twice since his arrival and look all set to mount a promotion push in the Championship.

King has previously revealed that he supported Norwich City growing up, so he will know how it feels to see his club win promotion to the top flight, but he would no doubt be even more delighted if Coventry can return to the Premier League for the first time since 2001 under his ownership.