According to a report by Manager Magazin, BMW are set to buy out Audi and enter into a partnership with Bayern Munich by 2025 at the latest. Talks have emerged in 2018 and the two parties are said to be close to an agreement.

At the moment, Audi owns 8.33 percent of Bayern, with another 16.67 percent spit evenly between financial services giant Allianz and Adidas. The remaining 75 percent of the shares belong to the club members, in keeping with the Bundesliga’s 50+1 rule.

The report says that the Bayern Supervisory Board member Edmund Stoiber already confirmed that the two parties had signed a letter of intent the year before. The 800M euros paid by BMW will serve to buy out Audi’s stake in the club, as well as sponsorship over the period remaining on Audi’s contract.

Audi’s contract is set to expire in 2025.

Back in December 2018, another report talked about negotiations between the two parties which could also involve former BMW board member Markus Duesmann who left Munich to join Audi as their global CEO, but received no clearance from his BMW contract. At the time, it almost seemed as if Markus Duesmann was the key player for BMW in the talks with FC Bayern Munich.

At the Fanclub Christmas party, Bayern President Uli Hoeneß officially confirmed that there are discussions between his club and BMW. Hoeness was hoping at the time for a solution over the next few months, which seems to have been the case.