Caz Sees a Private Equity Angle for Smaller Investors in Team Sales
Caz Investments, one of the world's larger asset allocators into private equity funds, inked a deal Tuesday with a fintech platform, iCapital Marketplace, to streamline access for financial advisors looking to get their clients into professional sports team ownership.
'Most folks have not gained exposure in any way to sports,' Caz partner Matt Lindholm said on a phone call. 'So for an investment advisor truly looking for non-correlated assets, this is the place you can find it.'
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When the major North American leagues began allowing private equity to buy minority stakes of franchises in 2019, the goal was to access the really big money—pension funds, endowments, insurance companies and other institutional investors who have capital that dwarfs any team owner's. Caz's arrangement with iCapital is significant, because it formalizes the fact that the opening to private equity money hasn't been all about tapping institutional funds—it's become a backdoor for mom and pop investors to get a slice of a pro franchise.
ICapital Marketplace is a two decade-old financial technology platform that connects wealth managers with asset managers. The company says its 111,000 financial professional clients manage $228 billion in capital and offer access to funds from behemoths including Ares, Carlyle Group and Blue Owl, all of which happen to have a sports investment line as well.
Caz is a $9 billion asset manager founded 24 years ago by Christopher Zook with a focus on thematic investments—that is, investing based on a view of the long-term macro trends. Caz's sports fund is a few years old. Its genesis was inspired by the move toward cord-cutting, the leverage sports teams have to pass along price increases to fans, and the defensive position of many real estate holdings teams possess, Zook told Sportico in 2022.
What's unique about Caz among many sports-focused funds is the majority of its sports assets—more than $500 million, according to a March regulatory filing—are invested through other sports investments funds.
'When we look at the world of sports investing, we think it's one of the most attractive places to allocate capital. That's why we've been one of the largest allocators to Arctos since their fund was founded in 2019,' Lindholm said.
While Caz's Zook and other firm executives invest their own money in the funds, most of the money is aggregated from smaller investors looking to get into hedge funds, private equity and other alternative investments not open to the average investor. Typically, these are individuals who have enough financial wherewithal to be considered by regulators to be accredited investors for whom riskier and less liquid assets can be suitable investments. It's likely Caz is the largest aggregator feeding into sports funds. It says it is in the top 125 of asset allocators globally to all alternative investment firms and has about 6,500 individuals' money across its funds, which also include funds investing directly in specific privately held companies, as well as more general technology, energy and healthcare funds.
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