Private equity barons behind Six Nations to share in €10bn listing
DOZENS of partners at Six Nations-owner CVC Capital are to share in a €10bn (£8.5bn) fortune after the firm unveiled plans to float on the stock market.
CVC, which also formerly owned Formula One, will go public on the Amsterdam stock exchange in a longawaited listing likely to value the business between €13bn and €15bn.
The firm will raise €1.25bn from the float, with €1bn sold by existing shareholders. This includes the Singaporean wealth fund GIC, the Kuwait Investment Authority, a fund owned by China and several former CVC partners.
The remaining €250m will come from the sale of new shares.
A prospectus to be published later this month will explain what proportion each existing shareholder will sell.
Three quarters of the business is owned by current and former partners, giving them a paper fortune of roughly €10bn. Rob Lucas, the CVC chief executive, and other current employees will not be able to sell shares in the business for up to five years.
CVC said 174 employees own shares, none of whom will cash out during the float. Plans for shares owned by CVC’S founders, including Steven Koltes and former managing partner Donald Mackenzie, have not been disclosed.
Mr Lucas said: “We believe an IPO of CVC provides an enduring long-term institutional structure to support further growth, we remain completely focused on the continued success of CVC and neither I nor any of my active partners are selling shares as part of this transaction.”
The listing signals a revival for Europe’s stock markets, with CVC joining Puig’s €15bn listing in Spain and Galderma’s €13bn float in Switzerland.
By contrast, the London Stock Exchange is yet to announce a listing of similar size this year.
CVC has owned some of Britain’s most well-known businesses in recent years, including the AA and Debenhams.
It currently owns the RAC and Domestic & General.
Alongside the Six Nations rugby tournament, it also owns the sports rights to La Liga in Spain, Ligue 1 in France and Women’s Tennis Association rights.
The group is one of the best known names in the private equity industry and one of the few European firms to compete with American groups such as Blackstone, KKR and Carlyle.
The buyout firm was founded in London 40 years ago and was led for many years by Mr Mackenzie as managing partner. The intention to float is the third attempt to go public after it was forced to shelve plans in 2022.
Blue Owl, another top shareholder, is not selling out from the deal and instead plans to increase its stake from 8pc to 10pc. CVC’S decision to list in Amsterdam rather than London underlines how it aims to operate as a pan-european business.
Despite being founded in London, the firm is based in Luxembourg and chairman Rolly van Rappard, the last remaining co-founder still employed, is Dutch. The CVC listing comes alongside the float of Marex Group in New York, which will generate a payout of up to $175m (£140m) for a fund controlled by two former Lehman Brothers bankers.
Marex, which offers clearing and broking for financial firms, unveiled plans to price shares at between $18 and $21 per share. Former bankers Jeremy Isaacs and Roger Nagioff will share in a windfall after their Amphitryon vehicle pledged to sell shares worth between $149m and $175m.
Mr Isaacs and Mr Nagioff are former Lehman investment bankers who set up private equity firm JRJ Group to back Marex during its early years.