V Sports Announces Investment from Atairos

[Olneythelonely]

I always love to see Lost In Munich posting.  Caught in a trap.

No turning back.

Sadly, for me (and now, it transpires, you) I don't post a lot these days. I'll try a bit harder.

To me that is a tragedy

[pauliewalnuts]

Atairos sounds like some sort of after shave everyone used to wear in the 1980s.

[LostInMunich]

A quick look at their website tells us they also partner Comcast, NBC Universal and Sky which to me, at least, suggests they have funds/gravitas on a large scale.

The Comcast stuff is interesting. They own NBC, which is the broadcaster for Premier League football in the US, isn't it?

The Atairos chair - Angelakis, who is quoted in the press release - used to be the CFO of Comcast, and Atairos was originally launched with $4bn of capital from Comcast. Presumably that was all Angelakis' idea and he jumped ship to go and run it.

Not sure what point I'm making here, except to note that the ties to Comcast are strong, and that Comcast itself is already betting on the growing popularity of English football in the US.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

In the scale of things, for an investment firm like this, is $6.5 billion a lot?

I don't think so, pretty normal but obviously it's still a lot of money and responsibility to manage. My guess is they see V Sports as a great potential investment as it builds a network of clubs across the globe and want in early doors. Somebody mentioned the MSL club plans which we all know about and the potential growth in the US market. It would also raise their profile and sit in with their strategy of long term investments for what I imagine is a relatively small amount of money.

What they bring to the table other than capital I have no idea and only time will tell. They certainly have a smart team behind them. As Risso said, it has nothing to do with AVFC but does show our owners are serious about V Sports and it's certainly not a rich boys' vanity project.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Atairos sounds like some sort of after shave everyone used to wear in the 1980s.

Speak for yourself. Besides I thought they were some naff gaming type console from the 80s. This computer gaming shit will never catch on.

[ChicagoLion]

Didn't know whether outside investment affected FFP (for the better)?

It doesn't make any difference.

It seems a bit odd to me. Usually with firms like that, they provide capital in exchange for equity in the business. They then hope that the business increases in value, and they profit from any future sale. I can't see Nas and Wes wanting to sell in the near future, (hope not anyway) so a bit difficult to see what's in it for Atairos in the short term. Football clubs aren't known for their big profits usually, so I can't see that they're goig to get much from the usual business activities of the V Sports group.

I am reading this as a debt equity play, it means that they will be able to press on with the ground improvement and other investments without having to rely on banks.

[VillaTim]

Atairos sounds like some sort of after shave everyone used to wear in the 1980s.

or some sort of knock off Belgium lager sold in Lidl

[ChicagoLion]

In the scale of things, for an investment firm like this, is $6.5 billion a lot?

I don't think so, pretty normal but obviously it's still a lot of money and responsibility to manage. My guess is they see V Sports as a great potential investment as it builds a network of clubs across the globe and want in early doors. Somebody mentioned the MSL club plans which we all know about and the potential growth in the US market. It would also raise their profile and sit in with their strategy of long term investments for what I imagine is a relatively small amount of money.

What they bring to the table other than capital I have no idea and only time will tell. They certainly have a smart team behind them. As Risso said, it has nothing to do with AVFC but does show our owners are serious about V Sports and it's certainly not a rich boys' vanity project.

The US football development is a significant opportunity and based on their background is likely part of the bigger picture.

[ChicagoLion]

A quick look at their website tells us they also partner Comcast, NBC Universal and Sky which to me, at least, suggests they have funds/gravitas on a large scale.

The Comcast stuff is interesting. They own NBC, which is the broadcaster for Premier League football in the US, isn't it?

The Atairos chair - Angelakis, who is quoted in the press release - used to be the CFO of Comcast, and Atairos was originally launched with $4bn of capital from Comcast. Presumably that was all Angelakis' idea and he jumped ship to go and run it.

Not sure what point I'm making here, except to note that the ties to Comcast are strong, and that Comcast itself is already betting on the growing popularity of English football in the US.

There has been some interesting developments recently in the US concerning the businesses that separately controls the sports TV franchises and the broadcasting rights.
This has already been subject to PE investment.
I think this could be something to do with the Private Equity world land grab of sports Broadcasting.

[pablo_picasso]

Atairos sounds like some sort of after shave everyone used to wear in the 1980s.

Or a budget airline run by some Delboy type character...

[eamonn]

Atairos sounds like some sort of after shave everyone used to wear in the 1980s.

or some sort of knock off Belgium lager sold in Lidl

More like Greek.

[Billy Walker]

Just a bit more digging.   Atairos is currently solely funded by Comcast (an organization with a market cap of 180 billion).

[Drummond]

Atairos sounds like some sort of after shave everyone used to wear in the 1980s.

Speak for yourself. Besides I thought they were some naff gaming type console from the 80s. This computer gaming shit will never catch on.

Sounds like a blend of the two to me. The fragrance for nerdy gamers.

[ChicagoLion]

Just a bit more digging.   Atairos is currently solely funded by Comcast (an organization with a market cap of 180 billion).

So what pisses on the Knighthead Blose chips.

[CT Villan]

It's not excluding anything Villa, though. V Sports owns Villa, and Atairos now owns a slice of V Sports.

Easiest way to describe what's happening here is that we have new co-owners. I think!

V Sports will continue to own 100% of AVFC post-closing of the transaction and will continue to have full control of all decisions at AVFC.

I took that to mean that all AVFC-related bus. units were excluded, no ?