Serie A is finally going ahead with their plans to raise investments in the new commercial entity that will handle the league commercial rights. According to a report by Sportcal, the six private equity firms interested in entering into business with Serie A for its media rights have been given until 25 August to submit their best and final bids to Italian soccer’s top flight.
The Serie A assembly is expected to meet in early September to review the proposals, according to reports in Italy.
Serie AÂ and its adviser Lazard set a deadline of 27 July for the host of interested parties to formulate their offers, and in the event there were six bids:Â
1. UK-based CVC Capital PartnersÂ
2. USA’s Bain Capital
3. Advent, The US private equity group in partnership with Italy’s FSI
4. BlackstoneÂ
5. Apollo Global Management, and
6. Fortress
These were presented to the Serie A assembly on 30 July.
According to the report, CVC, Bain and Advent would acquire minority stakes (no more than 15 per cent) in a new company that would control the league’s media rights for the next decade, while Apollo, Fortress and Blackstone would act as lenders.
Separately, China’s Wanda Sports and Spain’s Mediapro are understood to have offered €1.5 billion ($1.8 billion) and €1.3 billion respectively per season to operate and distribute an in-house league channel.
At present, domestic rights to Serie A are held by pay-television operator Sky Italia and over-the-top subscription service DAZN in three-year deals worth €973 million that run to the end of the 2020-21 campaign. The IMG agency handles the international media and other commercial rights in an agreement worth more than €360 million per year.
Infront Italy’s six-year, €5.94 billion minimum guarantee agreement to act as Serie A’s exclusive adviser on both domestic and international media rights expires next year.
Source: InsiderSport
