UFC owner Endeavor to sell sports school IMG Academy in $1.25 bln deal
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Ultimate Fighting Championship owner Endeavor Group said on Tuesday it will sell sports-training school IMG Academy to private equity firm EQT’s Asian unit in an all-cash deal with an enterprise value of $1.25 billion.
The deal comes just days after Endeavor’s mixed martial arts franchise UFC agreed to combine with World Wrestling Entertainment Inc, uniting two of the biggest names in wrestling and entertainment into a new, listed company worth $21 billion.
The IMG Academy sale will see the institution that trained athletes including Venus Williams, Serena Williams and Andre Agassi partner with EQT’s portfolio company Nord Anglia Education, which operates premium international schools across 33 countries.
Jack Hennessy, partner and co-head of education at buyer BPEA EQT, said in an interview that the firm aims to provide IMG Academy’s sports platforms to students in Asia and offer its sports programs to Nord Anglia and other schools in the region.
He added that BPEA EQT’s core investment thesis in the Asian education sector is focused on getting the emerging middle class access to world-leading education services. The company is also planning to leverage EQT’s digital technology capabilities to deliver IMG Academy’s programs online.
Florida-based IMG Academy provides sports training to athletes in its over 600-acre campus, as well as online coaching and recruiting assistance for young athletes. It placed more than 30,000 students into college sports rosters in 2022.
The boarding school has more than 1,400 full-time students, with an additional 15,000 athletes participating in camps throughout the year.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023, the companies said.
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru and Kane Wu in Hong Kong; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Devika Syamnath)
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