The German Football Association (DFL), German professional football’s governing body, is “launching a third attempt” to sell a stake in the league’s media rights -- worth as much as $1.1B -- “to private equity investors,” according to Henning & Hellier of BLOOMBERG NEWS. The 36 clubs in the top two divisions will vote in mid-December on whether to hold an auction, as a previous proposal in May “failed to win the necessary two thirds majority from the clubs.” In that attempt, buyout firms CVC Capital Partners, Blackstone Inc. and Advent Int’l were among suitors that “bid as much as” $2B for a “12.5% stake in the subsidiary housing Bundesliga broadcasting rights.” This time around, the league is “likely to use a reverse auction,” asking private equity firms how big a stake they would seek for an investment of up to $1.1B in the entity -- which will likely have to be below 10%. A stake sale, if agreed on, “would bolster the league’s finances” as well as its visibility among viewers. A stake sale in the DFL broadcasting vehicle would have to “conclude well before April,” when the league begins the sale of international and domestic broadcasting rights for the 2025-26 to 2028-29 seasons (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 11/14).
