Brandl & Talos and Swiss law firm Niederer Kraft Frey have advised Sportradar AG and company CEO Carsten Koerl on the EUR 2.1 billion sale by private equity firm EQT and certainly minority shareholders of a stake in the company to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Silicon Valley-based growth equity firm TCV. The buyers were represented by Linklaters, while EQT was represented by Freshfields.
Koerl, Sportradar's founder, will retain his entire majority ownership position in the company. EQT will also reinvest a portion of its sale proceeds into Sportradar. Additional existing shareholders include Revolution Growth, Ted Leonsis, Michael Jordan, and Mark Cuban.
According to Brandl & Talos, “Sportradar is the nexus between sports and entertainment, serving leagues, news media, consumer platforms and sports betting operators with deep insights, and a suite of strategic solutions to help grow their businesses. Sportradar is the trusted partner of more than 1000 companies in over 80 countries and serves as the official partner of the NBA, NFL, NHL, and NASCAR, as well as FIFA and UEFA. It is also the only provider entrusted to work with the US sports leagues in an official capacity to distribute sports data (NBA and NHL) and AV content (MLB) around the world for betting purposes.”
The Brandl & Talos team was led by Partners Thomas Talos and Roman Rericha and included Lawyers Markus Arzt, Stephan Strass, Nicholas Aquilina, Sabine Schmidt, Christiane Feichter, Julie Ann Sugay, Johanna Koefinger, and Fabian Paulista.
The Niederer Kraft Frey team serving as Swiss Counsel to Carsten Koerl and Sportradar AG was led by Partner Patrik Peyer.
Freshfields’s team included Partners Ludwig Leyendecker, Wessel Heukamp, Richard Lister, and David Beutel, Counsel Ulrich Sittard, Principa Associates Elizabeth Reiner-Oberholzer and Maren Tamke, with Associates Maximilian Liegl, Anastasios Moraitis, and Tom Hingley.
The Linklaters team consisted of Partner Ben Rodham and Corporate Partner Christopher Kellett.
Editor's Note: After this article was published Binder Groesswang and Ellex Raidla announced that they had worked with Linklaters in advising the investor consortium on the acquisition of the Sportradar stake.
The Binder Groesswang team was led by M&A Partner Thomas Schirmer and included Partners Horst Lukanec and Markus Uitz, Counsel Hellmut Buchroithner, Senior Associates Christoph Baumgartner and Sabine Apfl-Trompeter, and Associates Felix Fuith, Mona Holzgruber, and Arne Greiner.
The Ellex team consisted of Partner Risto Vahimets, Senior Associate Karl-Erich Trisberg, and lawyer Anna Trine Raudsepp.
