2024-02-16 17:42:45
After the withdrawal of the financial company Blackstone, the DFL can only rely on the private equity company CVC when looking for investors. But what does the company actually stand for?
Blackstone is out, but CVC isn’t getting out. According to information from the Sports Information Service, the last remaining candidate is not expected to be rejected in the negotiations for a strategic marketing partnership with the DFL. CVC Capital Partners is “continuing to work with full enthusiasm” and is “convinced of the deal,” it says.
The DFL cited “various reasons” for Blackstone’s departure, without being specific. “The further process will continue with CVC according to the planned schedule,” said the league association.
What is a private equity company?
Private equity companies such as CVC usually manage the money of institutional investors, such as banks or insurance companies, in funds and invest it in companies outside of the stock exchanges. This means that they provide the companies with capital and in return acquire company shares and rights to have a say. The companies usually do this in order to increase the value of the company through financial support but also through their experience and ultimately exit as profitably as possible.
This means that out of the original five interested parties, only the one in which the league officials saw even greater conflicts of interest than Blackstone is still in the running. The investor is already similarly involved in football in France and Spain. CVC also holds 60 percent of the betting provider Tipico, which is considered one of the most important sponsors of both the DFL and record champions FC Bayern. Carsten Schmidt, former boss at pay-TV broadcaster Sky and CEO of Hertha BSC from 2020 to 2021, is said to be working as a consultant for the company, according to “Sportschau”.
CVC boss was an advisor to Angela Merkel
CVC also bought a majority stake in Formula 1 in 2006 for around $1 billion and sold it to Liberty Media at the end of 2016 for a multiple. The company is prominently involved in rugby, volleyball and cricket, and in 2023 a strategic partnership was concluded with the women’s tennis tour WTA.
CVC currently manages almost 200 billion euros. At the head of the company in Germany: Alexander Dibelius. The financial manager has been leading the fortunes of the private equity company since 2015. Previously, he was the sole managing director of the US investment bank Goldman Sachs from 2004 to 2015, and acted, among other things, as an advisor to then-Chancellor Angela Merkel.
When Hannover 96 fans protested in Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion last Friday, Dibelius also came into the sights of opponents of investors. Posters with the likeness of the 64-year-old as well as those of Blackstone boss Stephen Schwarzman and Hanover’s professional managing director Martin Kind were each marked with a crosshair.
“CVC & Blackstone: Puppets of Saudi Arabia’s sportswashing,” was written under Dibelius’ likeness. Both companies receive money from the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund PIF, which already has several investments in the sports business. The Stuttgart ultra-group “Commando Cannstatt” fears that CVC’s potential entry into the DFL would be an “investment with the background of sportswashing” (you can read exactly what the topic of sportswashing is about here).
“There’s blood on your hands!” was the message from the protesters at the Swabians’ away game in Freiburg at the beginning of February. The fan scene was referring to the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, a country with one of the highest execution rates in the world. The fan scenes are vehemently reluctant to join. Protests have been going on since the end of last year, initially primarily in the form of abusive chants and posters, but now increasingly with tennis balls and other harmless objects that block the action on the lawn.
Survey: Majority of fans against investor entry
But what exactly is the DFL planning with CVC? Private equity companies like CVC are primarily concerned with increasing company value. Your financial investments are high-risk investments with no guarantees of success. CVC aims to develop profits for both sides. In the case of the DFL, this means that one billion euros should be paid at the start of the partnership for eight percent of the media rights income over 20 years.