(Bloomberg) -- A key investor of German football club FC Augsburg is sounding out a potential sale that could value the team at more than €150 million ($163 million), according to people familiar with the matter.

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An investor consortium led by Blackstone Inc partner David Blitzer is working with Lazard to assess interest in the club, the people said, declining to be identified because the information is private. The deliberations are early stage and potential suitors haven’t been approached yet, some of the people added.

Blitzer invested into Augsburg in 2021 as part of an unusual deal for German football. The country’s so-called 50+1 rule prevents a commercial investor from holding more than 49% of voting shares in any German club.

In 2015, Klaus Hofmann, at the time President of FC Augsburg, acquired a 99.4% stake in Augsburg via his vehicle Hofmann Investoren GmbH. Six years later, Blitzer’s Bolt Football Holdings acquired a 45% stake in the holding, according to company filings.

A spokesman for Bolt Football Holdings declined to comment.

While large investors typically can instruct fellow shareholders to sell, it wasn’t immediately clear whether Blitzer’s co-investors would also sell their stakes.

Founded in 1907, Augsburg has posted revenues of around €90 million for the season 2022/23, according to records of Germany’s football league DFL. German clubs are often valued at up to two times their revenues in transactions.

Earlier this year, Blackstone pulled out of the bidding for a controversial football media rights deal in Germany following a hostile backlash from fans critical of foreign capital being invited into the league. Blackstone’s decision came after a ramping up of protests with many matches, including the top clash between Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, being delayed by fans.

FC Augsburg, who finished the season in 11th place in the Bundesliga, the team’s best position since 2014/15, abstained from the vote for the private equity deal.

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--With assistance from Daniele Lepido and Tommaso Ebhardt.

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