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Redbird, Arctos among early movers in private equity sports investing, Cove Hill to invest in SecureLink, Trump's ex-economic adviser's SPAC goes public
 
Thursday, September 10, 2020
 
 
Morning!

Private equity has flirted with sports investing over the years, but it's never become a major focus for most firms, Instead, what we've seen are individual private equity magnates like Josh Harris of Apollo Global Management who use their own wealth to invest in franchises.

Could the pandemic lockdown, with its significant impact on professional sports leagues, cause private equity firms to take a closer look at investing in sports? Certainly, leagues could use capital infusions to make up for the loss of revenue through delayed seasons, loss of fans on site and muted advertising.

Karishma Vanjani takes a look at the strategy on PE Hub today. Firms like Redbird Capital Partners, Dyal Capital Partners and Arctos Sports Partners are specifically targeting sports investing. The question is, will other firms follow?

While these recent examples show the growing enthusiasm for professional sports leagues, the industry overall has been slow to push into sports investing. Sky-high valuations coupled with stringent industry regulations in exchange for a small slice of ownership have kept most PE firms at bay, industry experts told PE Hub.

“It’s a significant amount of money,” said Steven Smith, a leading sports lawyer at law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. “Are you willing to put in, let’s say, $300 million in one investment over something you don’t have control over?”

Read the story here and let me know what you think at cwitkowsky@buyoutsinsider.com.
 
 
 
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