US investor eyes stake in All Blacks

An American private equity investor is in ‘‘advanced talks’’ to buy a stake in New Zealand Rugby’s commercial activities which would give it a partnership with the All Blacks as well as Manchester City Football Club, a report out of Britain suggests.

The investor is Silver Lake, which part owns Manchester City’s owner City Football Group and is known as one of the world’s leading technology investors.

The talks have been going for several months, and Sky News in Britain has said they could be concluded as early as this month.

It said insiders suggested the transaction, if confirmed, could involve a 15 per cent stake, valued roughly at $2 billion.

However, senior NZ Rugby sources played down the report, indicating that a lot of water had yet to flow under the bridge.

‘‘If completed, it would be the latest – and arguably most prominent – example of a major sports rights-owner seeking to raise capital after a year in which the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc with the global sporting schedule,’’ Sky News reported.

‘‘Silver Lake is understood to have been vying with several rival private equity investors to secure the deal during a process run by Jefferies, the investment bank.’’

Sky News said a partnership with the All Blacks would likely focus on an attempt to build Silver Lake’s digital and media rights strategy,

Last year, NZ Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson said the company was ‘‘keeping its options open’’ on private equity as the game enters a period of dynamic change.

‘‘The balance here is that we’re keeping all options open around future opportunities in this space,’’ Robinson said in February when asked if there had been talks with venture capitalists CVC.

‘‘There’s a wide range of things happening across the globe at present in this area and we’re keeping our options open at the moment.’’

CVC Capital Partners has been reported to be well on the way to taking a 14 per cent stake in the Six Nations rugby competition.

CVC, has previously held a controlling stake in Formula One, and now owns parts of rugby’s English Premiership and the Pro14 domestic leagues.