OVER 20 first-round bids have been made for buying IMG Worldwide, and these include top private equity investors, as well as Hollywood talent management companies William Morris Endeavor Entertainment LLC and Creative Artists Agency, supported by their PE investors.
Silver Lake Management LLC, TPG Capital, CVC Capital Partners Ltd., KKR & Co. are among those who have participated in the initial non-binding expressions of interest which were due on September 30, a newswire Bloomberg report said.
This gives the potential buyers access to financial data on the company.
Morgan Stanley and Evercore Partners Inc. are advising Fortsmann Little on the sale, which is expected to fetch a price between $2 - 2.5 billion.
Rival Hollywood talent agencies William Morris Endeavor Entertainment along with its private equity backer Silver Lake Partners and Creative Artists Agency, working with its private equity backer, TPG, are seen to be most interested in the sports management company owned by Forstmann Little. TPG and Silver Lake bought stakes in the respective talent agencies in recent years.
KKR & Co LP has teamed up with New Mountain Capital LLC for the bid. While KKR may not have the industry expertise of CAA or William Morris, its partner New Mountain has deep ties to private equity firm Forstmann Little.
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, who was seen as an interested party was earlie reported to have lost interest.
Globally, IMG has struck four joint ventures in three years: with Reliance in India, with state broadcaster CCTV in China, with Eike Batista’s EBX in Brazil, and with Dogus, the private conglomerate, in Turkey.
IMG's global operations include sports marketing, event management, licensing, fashion, representation and production businesses. It handles retailing and licensing for the All England Lawn Tennis Club, which organizes the Wimbledon tennis tournaments, and produces high-end golf, soccer, rugby and cricket events around the world, among its other sports activities. Its IMG College wing works with the NCAA and others on the lucrative business of marketing, ticketing, licensing and brand management for more than 200 college sports properties in the US. The company, now led by chief executive officer Michael Dolan, represents top athletes such as the National Football League’s Mannings and tennis champion Venus Williams.
Morgan Stanley and Evercore have reached out to an unusually large pool of potential buyers. As a result, several private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds may also put in first round bids, a New York Times report had said.
Among the other main contenders is said to be CVC Capital Partners, the European private equity firm that has a controlling stake in Formula One Group, the commercial rights holder of F1. Other firms considering bids are said to include Carlyle, Bain Capital and Onyx. Colony Capital had made a preemptive bid that was rejected.
New York-based Forstmann Little bought IMG in 2004 for about $700 million shortly after the death of company founder Mark McCormack. IMG has a talent management division with particular strength in the sports, music and fashion worlds -- representing such stars as Heidi Klum, Justin Timberlake, Peyton Manning, Rafael Nadal and Taylor Swift. IMG has several divisions, including a television unit that distributes and produces sports programs and a brand consulting group; the company's IMG College unit handles multimedia, marketing, ticket and branding/licensing for more than 200 collegiate properties, including the NCAA.
The company was headed by Forstmann Little founder Ted Forstmann until his death in 2011. Forstmann friend and CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz allegedly attempted to prepare the company for sale and assume control himself while Forstmann was ill.
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