Private equity sports investment firm Arctos Sports Partners has hit $800 million in assets under management, nearly doubling the capital it can deploy since the start of the summer, according to a market participant familiar with the situation.
Arctos is one of a new slate of private equity investors seeking to acquire minority stakes of sports teams in North America and Europe. In a June regulatory filing, the company disclosed it had $421 million in assets under management, as of April 30. Private money managers are generally required to disclose their assets under management figure just once a year and rarely have to reveal their investments.
Arctos Managing Partner Ian Charles declined to comment, citing regulatory restrictions on discussing investment funds.
The quick increase in investor commitments to Arctos reflects the investment world’s rising interest in taking equity stakes in sports teams and media businesses. Private equity companies focused on sports investments and newly public RedBall Acquisition have raised or intend to raise more than $4 billion this year. In addition to this new money, established private equity giants like Bain Capital and CVC Capital are showing increased interest in sports, and are reportedly being among the bidders for a slice of equity in Serie A, the top-level Italian soccer league.
Arctos also added six new employees to its investment and operations, according to a memo dated Aug. 18 that was sent to Arctos clients and obtained by Sportico.
Helping Arctos to evaluate investments is Alastair Seaman, who joined the firm from Goldman Sachs, where he was part of the New York-based Vintage Funds investment team, a group that often buys and sells private business stakes in a manner similar to Arctos. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Seaman worked in London for HarbourVest and EPIC, two private equity and venture capital firms.
Larissa Wall joins Arctos as Controller from Fortress Investment Group, where she was responsible for accounting real estate and other funds for the multi-billion-dollar investment firm. New Arctos Senior Associate Forrest Richmond comes to the firm from HarbourVest, where he helped build its technology media and telecom investing framework. Richmond will handle all aspects of transaction evaluation and execution, according to the memo.
Working with Richmond as Associate is Melissa Kelly, who joined Arctos from middle market lender Golub Capital, where she underwrote lending and syndicated loans. Also working in transaction evaluation and execution as an Associate is Daniel Lewis, who departed MSD Partners, a money manager firm started by Michael Dell. Rounding out Arctos’s new hires is Amanda De Biaggio, who is the Executive Assistant to the investment and investor relations team. She joins from EnCap, a Texas-based energy investment firm.
