MILAN, March 9 (Reuters) – Italy’s Serie A will ask its 20 clubs on Monday if they want to begin a process to study proposals from private equity firms and banks interested in investing in the top league’s media business. well of football, a document. reported by Reuters.
The document lists the banks and funds that have approached Series A in recent months and says that, after meetings with all potential partners, three different types of funding offers were presented.
The first option is that of a “league-wide” credit facility, he indicated, although investors would also be willing to put equity into a company that holds the Series A media rights.
A third option would combine equity and debt. The capital contribution would be lower because it would be focused on a company that only holds the international media rights of Series A.
Spain’s LaLiga and France’s Ligue 1 have reached agreements to sell part of their media business to private equity investors to get new resources to finance the investments.
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However, the owners of Italian league leaders Napoli and reigning champions AC Milan have both expressed skepticism about plans to bring outside investment into the media business.
Citi ( CN ), Goldman Sachs ( GS.N ), JPMorgan ( JPM.N ) and Barclays ( BARC.L ) are the lenders listed in the document, which also mentions private equity firms Apollo, Apax, Carlyle, Three Hills Capital Partners and Searchlight.
Deutsche Bank ( DBKGn.DE ), which has been said to be among the banks interested in investing in the Series A, has dropped out of the race after being involved in a similar process involving Germany’s Bundesliga, a source familiar with the matter said. this matter.
Reuters has previously reported the names of all the banks and hedge funds in Series A in recent weeks, with the exception of Britain’s Barclays, which declined to comment on Thursday.
Later this year Serie A is expected to invite applications for the rights to screen its matches in Italy for up to five seasons starting in 2024/2025.
Club and league officials have warned that Serie A risks receiving a lukewarm response from broadcasters facing challenging economic conditions and sluggish growth.
Prepared ahead of a meeting of the 20 Serie A clubs scheduled for March 13, the document says clubs will be asked if they are interested in exploring a deal and on what basis.
If the clubs decide to proceed, the league will hire a consultant to organize a so-called beauty contest, urging all major financial institutions to submit their best proposal, the document said.
Reporting by Elvira Pollina; Editing by Keith Weir and Alexander Smith
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