LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc, the holding company behind the global talent agency WME, announced it has agreed to be acquired by its private equity backer Silver Lake, in partnership with the Endeavor management team and other investors.
The deal will see Endeavor go private with Silver Lake acquiring 100% of the outstanding shares of the company that it does not already own. Endeavor stockholders will receive $27.50 per share in cash, a premium of 55% on Endeavor’s share price at the end of trading on October 25th, the last full day of trading before Endeavor announced plans for a strategic review.
The deal puts an equity value on Endeavor of $13 billion. According to Endeavor, Silver Lake estimates that when consolidated with sports promotion TKO, which Endeavor launched last year following the acquisition of World Wresting Entertainment, the company’s total enterprise value tops $25 billion.
However, TKO was not part of the deal and will remain a publicly traded company, Endeavor said.
“Since 2012, Endeavor’s strategic partnership with Silver Lake and Egon Durban have been central to our evolution into the global sports and entertainment leader we are today. We believe this transaction will maximize value for all of Endeavor’s public stockholders and are excited to continue to unlock and invest in the growth opportunities ahead as a private company,” said Ariel Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor.
“Our unwavering belief in Ari and Patrick, together with Mark and other talented leaders at Endeavor, has never been stronger. This is a very special partnership. Together, we have built and grown Endeavor from $350 million in annual revenue when we first invested in 2012 to nearly $6 billion in consolidated revenue today. Now, Endeavor can take advantage of its unique core platform to meet the dynamic forces driving growth in content, sports, and live events with bold vision. Consistent with our mission and underscored by this commitment being among the largest in Silver Lake’s history, we are all in on working with the Endeavor team and our trusted anchor investors to create value by accelerating growth at scale,” added Egon Durban, Co-CEO and Managing Partner of Silver Lake.
BDT & MSD Partners acted as lead financial advisor to Silver Lake. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, BofA Securities, Barclays, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., and RBC Capital acted as lead financing arrangers and lead financial advisors to Silver Lake. KKR Capital Markets acted as global financing advisor to Silver Lake. The Raine Group is also acting as financial advisor. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as Silver Lake’s legal advisors.
Latham & Watkins LLP acted as legal advisor to Endeavor.
