This history appears in Sportico’s Morning Lead email. To sign up for a newsletter, visit below to sign up and receive it right in your inbox.
CVC Capital Partners, a major investor, anticipates a$ 15 billion valuation of the private equity sector for its IPO on Thursday. CVC’s public disclosures as part of going public give a intriguing, if insufficient, image of the private equity agency’s venture into sports.
While activities- related investments remain only a majority of its investments–perhaps 5 % of its deployed capital–the company has a dedicated activities, media and entertainment group led by CEO Rob Lucas. One of only four field teams, the firm claims, helps it generate returns that surpass those of catalog stock funds, a major impediment for private equity firms to overcome in order to entice big investors, like pension funds, who spend trillions of dollars on Wall Street.

The field teams provide specialized offer origination angles and early recognition of market trends, according to CVC’s proposal, operating in active sectors where the Group sees potential for significant deal activity. ” CVC also has a strong focus on and level of expertise in the sports, media, and entertainment sector.” with significant specialised expertise around digitisation, advertising and media, broadcasting and commercial rights”.
The sports sector team, which consists of seven bankers based in London, is led by CEO Lucas, a mountaineering enthusiast who has climbed Everest and K2. He’s been with Luxembourg- based CVC since 1996, three years after Citibank spun off the business. Overall, CVC has grown swiftly, including notably selling Formula One in 2016 to Liberty Media for$ 8 billion, four times what CVC paid using loans to buy F1 a decade earlier. Today, CVC manages$ 124 billion in private equity assets across some 139 portfolio companies, according to its website. Another$ 75 billion in AUM is invested in business operations that provide credit and liquidity to other investment firms as well as infrastructure projects.
CVC’s disclosures do n’t provide a comprehensive picture of its total sports investments, but information found in prospectuses and company releases indicates that it has at least$ 6 billion invested in at least 13 sports businesses. They include a$ 1.15 billion investment in Sports Illustrated owner Authentic Brands Group, more than$ 2 billion committed to Spain’s LaLiga and a$ 1.6 billion, 13 % stake in the Ligue de Football Professionel, the governing body of soccer in France, including Ligue1. Those three appear to be CVC’s largest sports commitments, though the dollar size for some of its investments are n’t available.
In addition to its significant investment in European soccer, CVC also has a strong presence in rugby, including ownership of PRO14, a one-sixth of the United Rugby Championship that it purchased in 2020 for$ 500 million, and 28 % ownership of the United Rugby Championship, which it purchased in 2020. CVC also owns 20 % of the Women’s Tennis Association it reportedly paid$ 150 million for, and it invested about$ 300 million in 2019 into a Bruin Capital fund.

CVC also owns stakes of undisclosed size in Volleyball World, the commercial entity governing the sport globally, India cricket premier league club Gujarat Titans, a “majority” of German sports betting firm Tipico, as well as about$ 230 million of Gaming1, a Belgian sports betting and online casino operator. Other sports-related investments that are not included in the totals include Razer, an esports gear manufacturer that recently went private in a$ 3.2 billion consortium led by CVC, and Dale Underwriting, which has a business that ensures athletes ‘ contracts against injury.
Given the large amount of money it has to invest, there are chances that the business will keep looking for deals in sports. CVC announced the closing of its Fund IX, which is its fourth actively operating PE fund in Europe/Americas, and the largest PE fund to have raised$ 27.8 billion in July. As of March, the fund has n’t made any fee-generating investments. Additionally, CVC has$ 3 billion to invest in its Fund VIII, which is likely the same entity that purchased esports game publisher Jagex for a reported$ 1 billion with Haveli Investments in February.
Although returns on sports investments are n’t broken out, private equity investments have been beneficial for CVC. In growth funds, where most of its sports holdings sit, CVC collects about 1.4 % of assets during the investment period. That’s an increase of$ 1.42 billion in revenue and$ 678 million in net income from fees, carried interest, and investment income, respectively.
We think that an IPO of CVC will provide an enduring, long-term institutional structure to support further growth, and Lucas emphasized that he is unwaveringly optimistic about CVC’s continued success. As part of this transaction, neither I nor any of my active partners are selling shares. No wonder: If the sale goes as planned, Lucas be worth nearly$ 600 million in CVC shares when trading begins Friday.