Large equity firms teamed up to bid for a minority stake in the media company holding broadcasting rights for the top-tier Italian football, Serie-A. Serie-A has requested investors to submit bids for acquiring stakes up to 15% in a newly created media company, which would hold the broadcasting rights.
However, this worries many clubs as they fear of losing control over the media business. Sportsmint has learnt from its reliable sources that private equity firms CVC Capital Partners, Advent International and Italy’s state-backed fund FSI have submitted a joint bid ahead of the deadline.
A consortium led by Bain Capital, which includes NB Renaissance, also submitted a bid showing their interest to buy stakes in the newly created Media firm. Both the bids are targeting a 10% stake in the company, which is valued at 13-15 billion euros.
Majority of the revenue for Serie-A comes from Broadcasting rights, but it lags the financial heavyweights of England’s Premier League, La Liga in Spain and the German Bundesliga.
Paolo Dal Pino, president of Serie-A believes that this new structure could help boost the revenue, especially abroad. On the other hand, some of the big clubs like Napoli and Lazio are not in favour of the new structure, since the new company would influence the control over the media business and impact clubs revenue.