Wanda takes over Swiss sports rights marketer Infront for good
China's Wanda Group has finally acquired a majority stake in the Swiss sports rights marketing company Infront. According to a statement released Tuesday, the company is acquiring the shares held by the private equity firm Bridgepoint for approximately 1.05 billion euros.
In future, Wanda will also appoint top manager Lincoln Zhang as Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Chinese company prevailed in a bidding competition in February and will receive 68.2 percent of the shares in the deal (Werbewoche.ch reported). The managing director of the sports rights dealer and marketing partner of several Bundesliga football clubs is the German world champion Günther Netzer. Infront CEO Philippe Blatter is the nephew of the President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter.
Wanda intends to use its new foray into the sports business to support China's bids for major international sporting events, among other things. Beijing and Almaty in Kazakhstan are the latest bidders to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Wanda is China's largest real estate group and also owns the country's largest cinema chain. Company boss Wang Jianlin is one of the richest Chinese. The group owns hotels, shopping centers and the British yacht manufacturer Sunseeker, among others.
Infront was bought out of Leo Kirch's crumbling empire in 2002. Before the takeover by Bridgepoint, the coffee heir Andreas Jacobs had held the majority of the shares. Initially, Infront made its living primarily from selling the rights to major FIFA tournaments to television broadcasters. However, the company has since broadened its spectrum, for example to include World Cup competitions in six winter sports and motor racing series. (SDA)
