Springboks face new bid for stake by Leeds United private equity investors Ackerley Sports Group
The world champion Springboks could sell off a stake of their commercial rights company to investors in Leeds United as South African rugby looks for a stronger financial footing.
Seattle-based firm Ackerley Sports Group LLC is reportedly set to revive plans to invest in the 2023 Rugby World Cup winners after an initial bid foundered last year.
The group failed to obtain majority support in a vote of the members of the South Africa Rugby Union (SARU) in December for a deal which would have seen 20 per cent of the Springboks’ commercial rights company sold to Ackerley Sports Group for $75m. The private equity firm maintained an exclusivity period to put forward another bid.
At the time the president of SARU, Mark Alexander, said: “The input and perspectives shared by our members have been invaluable, and we respect those perspectives.”
Chris and Ted Ackerley, the brothers who founded ASG, said in a statement on Monday, according to Bloomberg: “ASG remains confident that its strategic value-creation plan should and will be part of any new proposal.”
Springboks hunting investment?
ASG cited support for its efforts from Gayton McKenzie, the South African sports minister looking to return Formula 1 to the Rainbow Nation.
SARU’s latest accounts, for the 2023 financial year, showed a pre-tax deficit of £300,000 amid revenue of £58m.
Private equity would not be new to South African rugby, with the United Rugby Championship – a European-based competition which also features four teams from the country – receiving investment from CVC Capital Partners in 2020.
And in December of 2023 New Zealand Rugby, home of the world-famous All Blacks, agreed to Silver Lake upping their stake in the commercial rights of the organisation to 7.5 per cent. The private equity firm has invested a total of over NZ$250m (£110m) since its first investment in 2022.
CVC also has a stake in the Six Nations Championship, which begins at the end of the month, while Ackerley Sports Group’s investment portfolio also includes, Major League Rugby club Seattle Seawolves and TMRW Sports.