(NEW YORK) Katten announced today that members of its Private Equity and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) practice served as lead legal advisors to Excel Sports Management, LLC ("Excel"), an industry-leading sports agency that represents iconic talent, blue-chip brands and marquee properties, in a strategic new partnership with Goldman Sachs Alternatives, the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).
"We were incredibly proud to advise on this transformative partnership between one of the world’s top sports agencies and a leading private equity firm," said Katten Corporate Partner David Kravitz, who led the deal team with Corporate Partner Jessica Schauwecker. "This transaction represents a significant milestone in the evolution of the sports and entertainment industry, and sets the stage for the next phase of Excel’s growth."
"We have represented Excel on a number of acquisitions and other corporate and employment matters over the years. Given the rapidly growing and changing sports industry and Excel’s incredibly hard working and talented management team, we are excited to see what opportunities lie ahead with the Goldman partnership," Schauwecker said.
Excel’s talent representation division is a dominant force across multiple sports, including basketball, baseball, golf and football, with a roster that features rising stars, MVPs, all-stars and Hall-of-Famers. Excel's properties division has become the go-to partner for rightsholder sponsorship sales representation and advisory services for leading global properties, including Formula 1, the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Football League (NFL) and the English Premier League (EPL), among others. The agency’s brand marketing division provides full-service sponsorship support, including strategy, creative, activation and analytical measurement services, to top global brands. Excel also provides executive talent search and advisory services and event management, speaking and appearance services.
The full Katten deal team included Transactional Tax Planning Partner Todd Hatcher, Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Partner Mitch Pahl, Private Equity Partner Alison Yuko Krieser, Intellectual Property Partner Bret Danow, Corporate Employment Partner Michelle Gyves, and Antitrust Partner Jonathan Rotenberg.
Katten's M&A platform provides merger and acquisition counseling and representation to companies of all sizes, from the Fortune 500 to start-ups, advising private equity sponsors, independent sponsors, family offices and other businesses on public and private mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, equity and debt financings, recapitalizations and other transactions. The team leverages competitive intelligence and creative structures to manage transactional risk, parlaying granular market knowledge to close deals and keep clients competitive.
Katten's nationally recognized sports industry practice features attorneys across key disciplines – in corporate, M&A, private equity, finance, real estate, tax, intellectual property, employment, and litigation. The group increasingly delivers strategic, end-to-end legal solutions tailored to the demands of sports-related businesses, which include a robust roster of clients reflecting NFL, MLB, NBA, MLS, and NHL teams, as well as sports agencies, sports arenas and stadiums, lenders, investors, sponsors and regional sports networks.
