New York-based Apollo Global Management is reportedly planning to launch a £3.75bn investment vehicle focused on sport.
The firm, which has around £600bn in assets under management, is set to invest permanent capital into sport for the first time with the new fund.
Having previously held talks with LaLiga club Atletico Madrid about acquiring a stake in the football team’s holding company, Apollo Global Management has also lent £80m to Premier League football club Nottingham Forest – leveraged partly against the club’s City Ground stadium.
The Financial Times reports that the firm also lent football agent Kia Joorabchian’s Sports Invest Holdings £40m at an interest rate of 10.25 per cent.
Apollo Global Management’s new fund will come with new hires, but the firm did not respond to the Financial Times’ request for comment over the vehicle’s formation.
Apollo Global Management making moves
The move would be the latest into sport by a private equity sector looking to cash in on global opportunities.
The likes of CVC Capital Partners, Blackstone, Ares Management and KKR are all diversifying their portfolios with sporting investments.
This week Ares Management is set to confirm the sale of their minority stake in McLaren Racing to a mix of Mumtalakat, the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain, and UAE-based investment group CYVN Holdings.
Apollo Global Management’s year to date has seen them acquire highly engineered product producer Barnes Group and Bridge Investment Group, a real-estate firm, while affiliates and Apollo-backed entities acquired a major stake in Bold Productions Services and Pension Insurance Corporation, the latter for over $7.5bn.
And in June Apollo Global Management reportedly backed Hinkley Point C with a £4.5bn loan, which will be provided as unsecured debt to French state-owned energy firm EDF.
The firm previously considered backing and financing certain bidders for the purchase of a stake in Manchester United.