Narrative
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Project narrative
On February 10, 2015, it was announced that Dalian Wanda Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese private sector conglomerate with hefty investment in the culture and entertainment sectors whose majority shareholder is Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of Infront Sports & Media AG — a Zug, Switzerland-based sports marketing company, the world's second largest — from European private equity firm Bridgepoint for a consideration of €1.05 billion EUR ($1.2 billion USD). As part of this acquisition, Wanda, as the leader of the acquisition, would acquire a 68.2% stake in Infront, while three (unnamed) Chinese and global investors would acquire the remaining 31.8% stake. In 2015, the Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) issued a loan to Dalian Wanda Group to support its acquisition of Infront Sports & Media. Record ID#101267 captures China Eximbank's loan. In the first half of 2015, the Liaoning Branch of the Bank of China (BOC) and its various branches entered into a €200 million EUR bilateral loan agreement with an overseas special purpose vehicle of Dalian Wanda Group to support its acquisition of a 68.2% stake in Infront Sports & Media. This loan carried a maturity period of five years. This loan was advanced on July 3, 2015. Record ID#101268 captures BOC's €200 million EUR loan. In the first half of 2015, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) entered into a €200 million EUR bilateral loan agreement with Dalian Wanda Group to support its acquisition of a 68.2% stake in Infront Sports & Media. This loan carried a maturity period of five years. Record ID#101269 captures ICBC's €200 million EUR loan. Furthermore, ICBC also contributed to a €1,500,000,000 EUR syndicated loan to support Dalian Wanda's acquisition of Infront Sports & Media. ICBC served as mandated lead arranger. Other lenders, commitment date, and loan terms are unknown. Record ID#101317 captures ICBC's contribution to the €1.5 billion EUR syndicated loan. The acquisition was expected to bolster China's applications to host major international sporting events. Beijing Wanda Culture Industry Group Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Dalian Wanda Group, was the specific acquiring entity of Infront Sports & Media. The acquisition was completed on July 3, 2015. In total, Dalian Wanda spent €710 million EUR to acquire its 68.2% stake in Infront Sports and Media. At the time of the acquisition, Infront had partnerships with 160 rights holders in 25 sports, such as Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the Italian Lega Serie A, the International Ski Federation, the International Ice Hockey Federation, the Union Cycliste Internationale, and the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), as well as partnerships with hundreds of media and sponsors brands. It had 25 offices in 13 countries. FIFA awarded Infront the exclusive sales rights to broadcast package of various FIFA events from 2015 to 2022, including the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup; it also had rights to distribute the broadcasting of several Winter Olympic sports. In October 2015, it was reported that, in addition to the two €200 million EUR loans from BOC and ICBC, Dalian Wanda Group was seeking a €300 million EUR ($341 million USD) syndicated loan with a maturity period of one year, a bullet repayment profile, and an interest rate of EURIBOR plus a margin of 135 basis points (bps), to support its acquisition of a 68.2% stake in Infront Sports & Media. Société Générale S.A. (SocGen) was the exclusive lead bank and bookrunner for this one-year bullet loan, and it was syndicating to other banks with a deadline for participation on October 20, 2015. Wanda Sports & Media Co. Limited, a Cayman Islands-incorporated holding company for Dalian Wanda and the minority investors, held a 100% equity interest in Infront after completion of the acquisition. In 2018, Dalian Wanda moved to take Infront public as part of Wanda Sports Group Company Limited, a company that owned Infront Holding AG (the direct parent of Infront Sports & Media AG), Wanda Sports Co., Ltd., and Wanda Sports Holdings (USA) Inc. In 2019, it launched an initial public offering (IPO).
Staff comments
1. The Chinese project title is 大连万达集团股份有限公司收购瑞士盈方项目 or 万达集团收购瑞士盈方体育传媒公司并购融资. 2. The International Olympic Committee awarded Beijing, China host city status for the 2022 Winter Olympics in late July 2015, several weeks after the completion of the acquisition. 3. The details of China Eximbank's loan to support this acquisition is unknown. It is possible that China Eximbank participated in the €1.5 billion EUR syndicated loan that ICBC is known to have participated in. 4. Dalian Wanda Group was chiefly responsible for this acquisition in partnerships with three investors. AidData has thus assumed that the China Eximbank loan went to Dalian Wanda and coded it as such. The specific borrower was likely a special purpose vehicle majority-controlled by Dalian Wanda.