CVC Capital Partners failed to acquire Premiership Rugby with a £275M ($358M) bid after the owners of the league "decided they were unwilling to sell a majority stake" in the organization, according to Murad Ahmed of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Last week, it emerged that the buyout group, which previously owned Formula 1, "wanted to re-enter the sports industry" by seeking to acquire 51% of Premiership Rugby. On Tuesday, the owners of the 13 rugby clubs which own Premier Rugby Ltd., the league’s holding company, "decided that they would continue to seek investment opportunities, such as selling a minority stake, but were unwilling to pass control to new investors." Premiership Rugby Chair Ian Ritchie said, "Premiership Rugby has seen very good growth over the last five years with revenues rising more than 80 percent -- so the desire to accelerate that growth and expand internationally was reaffirmed by all clubs today." A source said that Premiership Rugby’s board would assess "several offers" for investment (FT, 9/11). The BBC reported Ritchie said that the league will explore outside investment "as a matter of urgency" and is "happy to work with a partner." He said, "The good thing for us is clearly there's a great interest in a fantastic product. We're very interested to explore areas of investment to grow the game and the league even further." Ritchie "was keen to point out that the notion of investment from CVC had not been rejected outright, only the detail of this particular bid" (BBC, 9/11).
