Terry Semel lining up IMG bid
Entertainment group could fetch over $1 billion
Semel, who ankled Yahoo! last summer following stockholder discontent, is understood to have secured enough backing to enable him to buy IMG.
The outfit’s assets include leading U.K. shingles TWI, Darlow Smithson and Tiger Aspect alongside marketing and agency activities.
A report in the New York Post suggests that Semel, apparently keen to re-establish his credibility after quitting Yahoo!, has enough backing from private equity funds to enable him to acquire IMG for well in excess of $1 billion.
In Blighty there have been rumors that IMG’s chairman and CEO Ted Fortsmann, whose fund, Fortsmann Little paid $750 million for the company four years ago, is keen to cash in his holding.
“It’s not if but when Fortsmann sells,” said an IMG insider in the U.K. “That’s the nature of private equity. As far as I know the company is not for sale at the moment.”
Sources suggest that IMG has no shortage of potential suitors and confirmed that a meeting between Semel and Fortsmann recently took place but suggest that Fortsmann remains committed to growing the business.
Recent investments by IMG have included the newly formed and highly lucrative Indian Premier League cricket contest and the purchase of the Collegiate Licensing Company in the U.S. last May.
Under Forstmann’s leadership IMG has widened its activities beyond its core sports businesses to include entertainment.
Darlow Smithson, makers of hit documentary feature “Touching The Void,” is a noted producer of factual fare, while Tiger Aspect specializes in comedy and entertainment.
Recent Tiger Aspect successes have included edgy drama series “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” and the global children’s hit “Charlie and Lola.”
An IMG spokesman said: “Ted is highly engrossed in running this company. He has grown IMG substantially since buying the company and intends to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.”
