Singapore/Mumbai: Asian wealthy families and fund managers are increasingly moving beyond sponsorships and charity-linked sporting events to invest directly in sports assets, betting that growing audiences and rising media-rights fees will drive longer term returns.
The trend is fuelling a record run in dealmaking, with Asia-Pacific sports-related M&A reaching $3.69 billion in the year to July 13, the highest in LSEG records dating back to 1980 and more than 12 times the level a year earlier. Globally, sports M&A was broadly flat at $8.34 billion.
