Pimco, the giant asset management group, is backing a £3bn deal orchestrated by the sports investment vehicle which owns stakes in the women’s professional tennis tour and Premiership Rugby.
Sky News has learnt that Pimco, which manages roughly $2trn in assets, has agreed to anchor a €2.35bn senior debt financing expected to be finalised by Global Sport Group (GSG) this week.
The refinancing forms part of a broader overhaul of GSG’s capital structure, which also includes roughly €900m of junior debt as well as the sale of a minority equity stake in the business.
CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firm which has overseen the creation of GSG to house its portfolio of sports assets, has been working on the refinancing for several months.
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The Pimco-led senior debt deal is said by debt market sources to have been struck on favourable terms for the CVC-controlled company.
Sources also told Sky News last month that KKR, the American private equity giant, was in advanced talks about acquiring a minority equity stake in the vehicle, which also owns shareholdings in Six Nations Rugby, international volleyball and the top flights of French and Spanish men’s football.
In total, KKR, which recently agreed the purchase of sports investment firm Arctos, is investing €1.6bn across GSG’s capital structure, including debt and equity, according to people close to the situation.
The overall financing package, expected to be worth in the region of £3bn, will reinforce GSG’s ambitions of becoming the most sophisticated global investor in elite sports teams, leagues and other related properties.
The CVC-backed vehicle last month confirmed its acquisition of Equine Network, the largest for-profit equestrian sports league…
