James Grant Group, the U.K.-based talent management and professional services firm that includes a notable U.S. soccer management practice, has been acquired by European investment firm Metric Capital Partners.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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James Grant’s clients include Clint Dempsey.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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The management buyout will see Metric Capital own 50 percent of the company, while James Grant’s management team will share the other 50 percent stake. Previously, the company was owned by London-based private equity firm Gresham, which acquired the business in August 2009 for approximately £21 million ($33 million U.S., currently).
The firm’s U.S. soccer business represents a field of players that includes Clint Dempsey and DeAndre Yedlin of the Seattle Sounders. The agency represented five American players who played at this year’s World Cup, the most of any global sports agency. (Jozy Altidore, Alejandro Bedoya and Nick Rimando join Dempsey and Yedlin as those five.)
The agency also represents a number of players who are playing professionally throughout Europe, and it represents a variety of other personalities in the literary, music and television spaces, primarily in the U.K., as well.
Lyle Yorks, global managing director for James Grant Sports, said both the company as a whole and its U.S. soccer operation in particular have opportunities for growth under the new ownership structure.
“We see the U.S. market as a real growth opportunity for all facets of the business, whether it’s in soccer and sport, or media and entertainment representation,” he said. “We’re still in the discussion stages on what is the right next step, but we see an L.A. office in the future and then more growth from there.”
The U.S. business is currently based in Washington, D.C.
Metric Capital said in a prepared statement that James Grant Group is “an established leader across its key markets, and is best positioned to continue benefiting from the development trends in the entertainment and sport sectors.”
Yorks said the company will likely grow both organically and through acquisitions, which is a strategy it pursued under its previous owner as well. James Grant Group grew roughly twice in size during the four years under Gresham, he said.
“We’re at the point where our relationships are strong and we really feel like we can put a stake in the ground here in the U.S. across the entire business of the company,” he said. “Being U.K.-centric, once we can further crack into the U.S. market, that’s the holy grail.”
