Latest news with #privateequity
Bloomberg
17 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Perwyn Said to Near Deal for Stake in Software Firm SoftNext
European private equity firm Perwyn is in the process of finalizing a deal to buy a minority stake in French software firm SoftNext, according to people with knowledge of the matter. SoftNext, which is part of Groupe Baelen, has been working with advisers in recent months to raise cash, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
Telegraph
21 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Six Nations rugby courts Gulf sovereign wealth
The Six Nations Championship is being lined up for new investment as part of a multibillion-pound attempt to cash in on the global growth of sport. The private equity giant CVC Capital has called in bankers to review options for its sporting portfolio, which include stakes in Europe's top rugby competition, Spanish and French top-flight football and women's tennis. A full squad of bankers from Goldman Sachs and the boutique advisers PJT Partners and Raine Group have been called up to help package up the disparate collection of sports and examine opportunities for refinancing and more acquisitions. The collection of assets, being brought together under an umbrella company with the working title SportsCo, is also being prepared for refinancing. City sources said the plans could include the sale of minority stakes in the overall business, which is valued at more than £10bn. CVC has appointed Marc Allera, the former head of BT's consumer division, to spearhead the discussions as chief executive of SportsCo. The private equity firm is said to believe its portfolio could attract investment from Gulf sovereign wealth funds or fellow heavyweight buyout specialists. It is understood that a string of meetings have been lined up in the coming months with bankers hopeful of securing investment before the end of the year. No decisions on the final financial structure of SportsCo have been made, however. Private equity in sport The moves are designed to capitalise on booming global investor interest in sport, a field in which CVC has been a private equity pioneer. The firm enjoyed major success with its investment in Formula 1, which delivered billions in profit with a sale in 2016. The gains drove CVC's confidence in further sporting ventures in rugby and football. However, the relative complexity of club ownership and governance structures in these competitions has made it harder to make the swift operational and financial improvements on which private equity typically depends to deliver returns. CVC's £1.3bn investment in a 13pc stake in France's Ligue de Football Professionnel has been particularly problematic. A seemingly lucrative television rights deal with the streaming operator Dazn descended into acrimony, and then CVC's Paris offices were raided over allegations of corruption in its investment deal. The firm denies any wrongdoing. Its sports expansion also met with bad luck. CVC's 2018 investment in English top-flight club rugby was predicated on significant increases in revenue from grounds and television rights. Those assumptions proved particularly heroic when the pandemic struck and at one stage came close to making the Premiership bankrupt. SportsCo is being designed to allow CVC to refinance its portfolio and return money to its own investors while retaining control beyond the typical five to seven-year term of private equity ownership. The new vehicle will be responsible for senior appointments in the sports leagues in which it holds stakes and could seek to co-ordinate television rights discussions in an increasingly globalised market in which the likes of Netflix and Apple are expected to play a growing role. It comes at a time when private equity firms are generally struggling to cash in on investments made under very different conditions. Some 15 years of rock-bottom interest rates after the financial crisis delivered hundreds of billions of dollars into funds as investors hunted returns. Flush with cash, buyout firms ventured into riskier businesses and paid higher prices. Now, with debt more expensive and valuations depressed, some are struggling to return cash to their investors and being forced to seek innovative ways to deliver returns.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
KPMG's Atif Zaim on taking his biggest role yet
This story was originally published on To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily newsletter. Atif Zaim, KPMG's newly appointed U.S. managing principal and deputy chair, is preparing to take on one of the firm's most visible leadership roles. Zaim, who has been with the company for over 30 years, sat down with shortly after the start of his five-year term to share how the advisory business has evolved, what clients expect from firm leaders today and how his career shaped his approach to leading in the rapidly changing marketplace of public accounting. As he steps into this new role, he is still laser-focused on helping partners and clients while now tasked with leading KPMG's operations. In the first of a two-part series, Zaim explains how professional services firms are balancing growth ambitions with talent pressures, private equity's growing impact on services at the firm and KPMG's approach to technology implementation. Atif Zaim Deputy chair and U.S. managing principal, KPMG Notable previous positions: U.S. consulting leader, KPMG National managing principal, advisory, KPMG Principal, management consulting, customer and operations service line leader, KPMG This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. ATIF ZAIM: The day-to-day is going to change in a very significant way. The scope of responsibilities shifts quite a bit. At the highest level, the role requires being in front of clients, managing internal stakeholders, setting priorities and strategy and motivating the team — so those things I have done and will continue to do. At that level, it stays the same. But when considering my scope — from the consulting business to the entirety of the firm — it's a very different picture. Moving from one revenue-producing division in advisory to building relationships across the full firm, including audit and tax. Many of those partners I already know and have worked with for decades, but the nature of those relationships will change. There are also the operations of the firm, which weren't previously part of the scope. Then, setting strategy at a business unit level versus setting it at the firm level, that's a different goal and new for me. The audience is much larger, and the way to reach that audience must evolve. Each step I've taken over my career was part of a natural progression — expanding the audience and evolving how to engage them. Yes, we have a lot of in-house development we do on our platforms. And yes, we partner with technology providers significantly. It's a mix, and it'll stay that way. There's no reason to swing to one side. There are certain things where I don't know if you really gain a competitive advantage by building something someone else already created. There are lots of credible solutions on the market that are made by companies that specialize in that product or service. This is one of those things where we have the same conversation internally as we do with our clients. There wasn't always a credible alternative. In some cases, based on your industry or your unique situation, you need to build it yourself. But in others, like a video conferencing platform, for example, why would you build it? That's not your core. You can license it at a reasonable cost and focus your effort on what matters. It's the same for us. There are areas where there isn't a platform on the market that functions the way we want, so we're going to build that internally. But for the core technologies that feed into that platform, we'll use what's available and partner with tech firms. We've never felt we must invent everything to feel like we're innovating. If we must, we will. But it's about being intentional, not reinventing the wheel just because we can. The biggest and most obvious priority is selecting the right team. Alongside [CEO Tim Walsh], we've focused on cementing our leadership group. We're very excited. The core management committee — a group of 10 — has already been announced. That's one of the major shifts we're making. As part of that, we've reorganized certain areas to help us execute more effectively. One of the early but important changes is moving toward a more industry-focused structure. The goal is to ensure clients experience audit, tax and advisory as an integrated offering tailored to their industry. We've also made organizational adjustments to improve agility and responsiveness. That includes efforts to streamline processes and remove friction that slows down execution. Engaging with partners remains essential. Tim and I have traveled across the country and met with roughly half of our partners in person so far. We're also building on that with a new internal social platform where both of us are active, alongside many partners, to keep the dialogue going. Unlike many companies, our shareholders are also our partners — we work with them every day. That makes continuous engagement even more important. Not necessarily in our offerings or services to clients, but I think it's certainly influencing our mindset, the way we operate, and the manner in which we serve our PE clients. When you look at the economy overall, the shift is clear. The number of publicly listed companies is declining. Meanwhile, the number of privately owned firms, including those backed by private equity, is growing significantly. It doesn't necessarily change the types of services we provide. You're still going to have due diligence, finance transformation, audit, tax, technology, customer — all of it. However, PE's growing influence is fundamentally reshaping the market, and we've been evolving our service model in response. Historically, firms like ours were organized around functional services — audit, tax, advisory — but PE clients need something different: integrated, industry-focused, lifecycle-driven solutions that support value creation from due diligence through exit. Often, you're not just dealing with the portfolio company, you're also working with the fund or the private equity firm that owns it. That's a different dynamic. You've got to think about their hold period, what they care about during that window and what their exit strategy is. In response, we're shifting to a more connected service model, focused less on traditional lines and more on solving for outcomes across the investment lifecycle. We're embedding sector specialists, leveraging data and AI more aggressively and training our teams to think like investors, not just advisers. One of our biggest areas of focus right now is improving operational performance between entry and exit for these types of companies; helping clients manage cash better, drive growth, improve efficiency, optimize pricing and take out costs. Those are the things private equity sponsors care about, and it's where we can bring value. We are also enhancing our relationship approach, moving from transactional engagement to becoming strategic partners who anticipate needs, not just respond to them. Ultimately, our goal is to help PE firms move faster, de-risk decisions and unlock value across their portfolios, and that requires a very different way of showing up. Three things come to mind. One of them is people and the relationships you make. We're all together on our professional journeys. We're developing together, learning together and serving clients together. The people I've worked with, that I've been in the trenches with, we've forged ties and friendships that are meaningful, powerful and long-lasting. The other is that with this skill set, there are only a few places where you could have this impact with clients. And this excites me — being in the front of it, being in front of clients and delivering for our clients. The third thing is that the work is still interesting because it keeps evolving. After governance, risk and compliance, I started getting into business performance improvement work, helping clients run their businesses better. Then, business transformation became my focus. A few years later, we started the consulting business again. More recently, we've been leaning into technology and generative AI. So every few years, the work looks different. The problems have changed, the clients have changed and the tools have changed. This is what has kept me engaged. I never felt like I was doing the same thing over and over. That's probably why I've stayed as long as I have; I've never been bored. This is part one of two-part series. Read part two here. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Blackstone drops out of group seeking stake in US-based TikTok
(Bloomberg) — Private equity firm Blackstone Inc (BX) has pulled out of a group of investors seeking to take a minority stake in TikTok's US-based business, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Dutch Intersection Is Coming to Save Your Life Mumbai Facelift Is Inspired by 200-Year-Old New York Blueprint How San Jose's Mayor Is Working to Build an AI Capital Milan Corruption Probe Casts Shadow Over City's Property Boom LA Homelessness Drops for Second Year Blackstone has ceded its potential stake in TikTok's US operations to the other investors in a consortium that includes Oracle Corp., venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and growth equity investment firm General Atlantic, said the person, who asked not to be named while discussing private conversations. President Donald Trump in late June said he'd identified a buyer that would allow the popular social media app to legally continue operating in the US, splitting it off from Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. Bloomberg News later reported that Trump's proposed buyer was the same consortium that included Blackstone. The Trump administration had recently issued another 90-day extension to work out the deal. That extension expires in mid-September. Reuters reported details of Blackstone's withdrawal from the consortium earlier on Friday. A Rebel Army Is Building a Rare-Earth Empire on China's Border What the Tough Job Market for New College Grads Says About the Economy How Starbucks' CEO Plans to Tame the Rush-Hour Free-for-All Godzilla Conquered Japan. Now Its Owner Plots a Global Takeover Why Access to Running Water Is a Luxury in Wealthy US Cities ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Sky News
a day ago
- Business
- Sky News
CVC kicks off refinancing plan for £9bn portfolio of sports assets
The owner of stakes in Six Nations and Premiership Rugby and the top flights of French and Spanish football is plotting refinancing expected to value its sports portfolio at more than £9bn. Sky News has learnt that CVC Capital Partners has hired Goldman Sachs, PJT Partners and Raine Group to advise on a deal involving SportsCo, a new entity established to optimise the buyout giant's investments in the sector. City sources said this weekend that the refinancing was likely to involve raising new debt against one of the largest private equity-owned sports portfolios in the world. CVC also owns stakes in international volleyball, the women's professional tennis tour and Indian Premier League cricket. Sources said the refinancing would enable CVC to remain invested in its sports portfolio for longer, while also paving the way for the sale of a minority stake in SportsCo or a future initial public offering. Last month, Sky News revealed that Marc Allera, the former boss of mobile phone network EE, had been recruited as chairman of SportsCo. The creation of SportsCo is aimed at providing more cohesive support to CVC's investments across the sector. Having made billions of dollars from its ownership of Formula One motor racing - one of the most lucrative deals in the history of sport - CVC has bought stakes in leagues and other assets spanning cricket, football, rugby union, tennis and volleyball over the last two decades. Its investment in the media rights to La Liga - Spain's equivalent of the Premier League - is expected to generate a handsome return for the firm, although a comparable deal in France has faced significant challenges amid broadcasters' financial challenges in the country. CVC's backing of global sports properties is intended to position it to maximise their commercial potential through new media and sponsorship rights deals, as well as their expansion into new formats aimed at drawing wider audiences amid rapid shifts in media consumption. In rugby union, its acquisition of a stake in Premiership Rugby's commercial rights was hit by the pandemic and the subsequent financial pressures on clubs which saw a number of the league's teams forced into insolvency. CVC, which bought into Premiership Rugby in 2019, owns a 27% stake in the league. Under its stewardship, broadcast audiences and attendances have turned a corner, with total TV audiences up 40% this year - partly as a result of an increase in the number of games being shown. It recently agreed a more lucrative TV rights deal for the league. Sponsorship revenues are also said to have nearly doubled since CVC's initial investment, with fan interest among the crucial 18-34 age demographic rising by 30% during the last year. Its SportsCo strategy will see Mr Allera, who also chaired BT Sport, working across the CVC sports portfolio, with other executives expected to be recruited to assist the effort in due course. One source last month likened the initiative to the approach employed by the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. They added that there would be parallels with the sharing of best practice used at US basketball's NBA through its TeamBusinessOperations (TeamBO) unit to unlock collective opportunities and drive further long-term growth projects. CVC's sporting assets will continue to remain autonomous and independent of one another. One expected benefit of the SportsCo approach would be the sourcing of new investment opportunities in future years, with another likely to mean CVC remaining a stakeholder in its existing portfolio for a longer duration. SportsCo could be used as an acquisition vehicle for future CVC deals in the industry. The firm was recently outbid in an auction of major tennis tournaments by Ari Emanuel, the Endeavor founder whose company was also the seller of the assets. Global sports properties have become one of the hottest growth areas for private capital in recent years, with firms such as Ares Management, Silver Lake Partners and Bridgepoint all investing substantial sums in teams, leagues and other assets across the industry.
