How NZ Rugby would rank on sharemarket

The entity set up to control the commercial interests of New Zealand Rugby is so valuable, it would be a shoo-in for the NZX 50 Index of leading companies on the NZX sharemarket.

It would be worth about 10 times more than broadcaster Sky Television, from which it earns some of its revenue.

New Zealand Rugby is progressing with a deal to sell 12.5 per cent of a newly-created entity called Commercial LP, which would control its commercial interests, including the All Blacks. The deal, which has not yet been finalised, would result in United States-based private equity firm Silver Lake paying $387.5 million for its stake, implying the value of Commercial LP would be about $3.1 billion.

In total, the companies with shares listed on the NZX sharemarket are worth just over $186b, but Commercial LP would be among the larger companies.

There is no indication mum and dad investors, or their

KiwiSaver funds, would ever get the chance to take a stake in the company, though private equity firms sometimes exit their investments through an initial public offering on sharemarkets.

Commercial LP would still be dwarfed by the largest NZX-listed companies, which include some big banks, which have their shares dual-listed on the NZX and the Australian ASX sharemarkets. The current market value of ANZ is $88.5b. Westpac is worth just over $99b.

Commercial LP would also not rival telecommunications company Spark for size at $8.3b, or Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which has seen the Covid-19 pandemic drive demand for its ventilators and shares, resulting in a market value of $20.7b.

Retirement home operator Ryman at just under $7b, Contact Energy at $5.9b and Fletcher Building at $5.8b are also worth considerably more.

But there are many highprofile companies listed in the NZX 50 with market capitalisations, or values, in the ball-park of Commercial LP. Internet infrastructure company Chorus is worth $3b, and Genesis Energy $3.5b.

Commercial LP would be more valuable than some of the wellknown NZX-listed companies including Kiwi Property Group, which owns shopping centres, valued at $2b and Z Energy, valued at $1.3b.

New Zealand Rugby’s 2020 annual report shows it had a total income of $138.3m for the year, including $51.8m from broadcast rights and $59.3m from sponsorship and licensing. That was down from $187.1m the previous year, though the drop was not as steep as the board had expected when the Covid-19 pandemic arrived.