A group led by Endeavor chief executive and co-founder Ari Emanuel is set to acquire the sports and entertainment giant’s Madrid Open and Miami Open top-tier tennis tournaments after outbidding private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.
The consortium, which includes Apollo Global Management and RedBird Capital Partners, is poised to pay more than $1 billion for the tennis portfolio, according to Bloomberg.
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CVC was also bidding for the tennis tournaments, both of which feature top men’s and women’s players, but will lose out to Emanuel’s group.
The company is already involved in tennis through a joint venture agreement in 2023 with the Women’s Tennis Association in which it invested $150 million for a 20% stake.
Other interested parties reportedly included the EQT Partners and Providence Equity Partners firms.
The deal marks a rare sale of two of the biggest tennis tournaments outside the four grand slams.
The sale process, which is being handled by The Raine Group, is part of the overall agreement through which private equity firm Silver Lake will take Endeavor private (expected to be completed in the coming months). A review into a potential sale of the tennis properties began last October.
IMG, the major sports and entertainment agency run by Endeavor (its ownership was transferred to the TKO division in February), added the Madrid Open to its tennis portfolio in 2021. The annual Miami Open and Madrid Open tournaments occupy top-tier places on the men's ATP and women’s WTA tours.
In 2023, it was reported by The Athletic that Saudi Arabia was pushing to purchase either tournament.
Meanwhile, IMG sold its 50% share in the ATP 500 Rio Open men’s tennis tournament to fellow shareholder Mubadala Capital, the Abu Dhabi-based investment firm, in 2023.
After the Madrid Open acquisition, IMG had control of three major tennis events, breaking ATP by-laws preventing tournament operators from owning more than two top-level tournaments.
Silver Lake announced that it was taking Endeavor private last April after acquiring 100% of the company in a deal that valued the sports and entertainment heavyweight at $13 billion. As part of that deal, Endeavor stated it would look to sell off several assets.
Endeavor completed the sale of several of its key sporting assets – IMG, On Location (hospitality and events), and Professional Bull Riders (PBR) – to TKO in late February.
TKO, created in September 2023, currently houses the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) properties. Indeed, it was launched when Endeavor purchased WWE at that point and spun off UFC with that promotion.
The sale of these assets by Endeavor was first disclosed in late October, as a $3.25 billion all-equity purchase. While the leadership of PBR and On Location remains unchanged, IMG president of media Adam Kelly now steps in as president of the IMG business as a whole.
This year’s Miami Open, held between March 16 and 30, saw Aryna Sabalenka win the women’s singles title and Czech teenager Jakub Mensik secure the men’s singles title. The Madrid Open kicks off later this month.
The events are two of nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments and two of ten WTA 1000 tournaments on the calendar.
