Private Equity Edge Closer to Deal With Football Holdout

German professional football’s governing body has narrowed down the list of private equity suitors seeking a stake in the league’s media rights, people with knowledge of the matter said.

DFL Deutsche Fussball Liga GmbH’s supervisory board decided Tuesday to invite Blackstone Inc., CVC Capital Partners and EQT AB to proceed to the next round of bidding, the people said.

Rival buyout firm Advent International, which made the lowest preliminary proposal, wasn’t shortlisted, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Spokespeople for DFL, Blackstone, CVC, EQT and Advent declined to comment.

EQT has presented the highest bid with an initial proposal valuing DFL’s media rights arm at about €12.7 billion ($14 billion), while CVC is valuing the business at €12.5 billion, Bloomberg News reported last week. Blackstone has pegged the unit’s valuation at €11.9 billion, while Advent presented a preliminary bid with a valuation of €10.8 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said at the time.

DFL is seeking bids of up to €1 billion ($1.1 billion) for a stake of as much as 8% in a subsidiary housing the Bundesliga broadcasting rights, Bloomberg News has reported.

Private equity firms have been betting on media rights business of major sporting leagues, driven in part by owners looking to cash in on rising valuations of teams, and a perception among investors, following the pandemic, that live sports remain a hit with viewers.

 

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