London, UK; Zug, Switzerland – Global investment firm The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) today announced that its Global Credit platform has agreed to provide a debt financing package of €400 million for Infront Group (“Infront”), a leading sports marketing company based in Switzerland.
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Zug, Infront is one of the world’s largest sports marketing companies, offering a broad range of services including Media Rights, Sponsorship Rights, Media Production and Digital Solutions. Infront intends to use the funds to refinance its existing debt and to support its expansion plans.
Soenke Ziebell, Vice President Finance & Chief Financial Officer of Infront, said: “With its industry expertise and global reach, we are confident Carlyle is the right financial and strategic partner to support the continued growth of Infront. Our new capital structure will allow Infront to capitalise on a number of strategic initiatives and consolidate our leadership position in key sports and innovative products.”
Taj Sidhu, Head of Carlyle’s European Credit Opportunities advisory team, said: “Carlyle’s global team and flexible capital were critical to our ability to identify and underwrite the entire financing for Infront, one of the most established and highly-regarded sports marketing companies in the world. This investment is a direct result of Carlyle’s sector expertise and thematic focus on media, entertainment and content.”
Nicola Falcinelli, Managing Director in Carlyle’s Global Credit platform, said: “We are delighted to partner with Infront and provide a flexible credit solution to support their growth ambitions. The global sports market is expected to enjoy strong growth, and Infront is well-positioned to benefit from this given its unique portfolio of premium content rights, long-term partnerships with the world’s largest sports organisations, and a diversified offering and customer base.”
The debt financing package for Infront was led by Carlyle’s Credit Opportunities platform, part of Carlyle’s $59 billion Global Credit segment, which regularly pursues investments in privately negotiated capital solutions primarily for upper middle market borrowers, including both private equity sponsored and family or entrepreneur-owned companies.
ENDS
Media Contacts:
The Carlyle Group
EMEA: Andrew Kenny / andrew.kenny@carlyle.com / +44 7816 176120
USA: Christa Zipf / christa.zipf@carlyle.com / +1-347-621-8967
Infront
Jörg Polzer / joerg.polzer@infrontsports.com / +41 79 47 50 429
About The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across three business segments: Global Private Equity, Global Credit and Investment Solutions. With $260 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2021, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,800 people in 29 offices across five continents. Further information is available at www.carlyle.com. Follow The Carlyle Group on Twitter @OneCarlyle.
About Infront
Connecting fans and consumers to the greatest sports events, Infront, a Wanda Sports Group company, offers everything an event or commercial partner needs to be successful. With a team of around 1,000 experts working from 44 offices across 17 countries around the world, Infront is equipped to tackle any challenge – be it innovative digital solutions, world-class event operations, international media rights distribution, sponsorship sales and activations or cutting-edge media production. Headquartered in Switzerland, Infront is passionate and #AllAboutSports. @infrontsports www.infront.sport.
