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Hollywood Superagent Emanuel Looks to Buy Tennis Tournaments, Art Fair

Ari Emanuel Photographer: Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg (Kyle Grillot/Photographer: Kyle Grillot/Bloom)

(Bloomberg) -- Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel is raising money to buy live-entertainment businesses, including potentially some divisions of his own company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The chief executive officer of Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. has already raised more than $100 million from backers including alternative asset manager Apollo Global Management Inc., said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. He is looking to raise far more than that. Emanuel declined to comment.

Emanuel, 63, continues to believe in the value of so-called experience businesses, live-entertainment properties like those he had assembled at Endeavor. He has informed Endeavor’s board and owners of his interest in the Miami Open, Madrid Open and Frieze Art Fair, according to the people.

Endeavor is selling those assets as part of its sale to the private equity firm Silver Lake Management, which already holds a 71% voting stake in the talent agency and entertainment company. Endeavor has told interested parties it won’t show Emanuel any favoritism and will sell to the highest bidder, according to the people. Several parties have already expressed interest in all three assets.

Endeavor acquired dozens of businesses over the last decade as Emanuel transformed the company from a Hollywood talent agency into a sprawling business that stretches across sports, fashion, cooking and art. Its biggest deals were for the mixed martial arts league UFC and World Wrestling Entertainment.

Yet investors never understood how all the pieces fit together and assigned almost no value to many of the other assets under the Endeavor umbrella.

Emanuel and longtime partners Patrick Whitesell and Mark Shapiro tried to address this disconnect by spinning off UFC and WWE into a separate company, which now trades publicly as TKO Group Holdings Inc. When that didn’t significantly boost Endeavor shares, they announced a deal to be taken private by Silver Lake for $27.50 a share.

Endeavor has already agreed to sell three assets to TKO — the VIP ticketing business On Location, Professional Bull Riders and a media sales company. But the company made clear that it doesn’t plan to sell anything else to TKO, and what remains of Endeavor will focus on its artist and athlete representation businesses, like the talent agency WME.

Emanuel will continue to serve as CEO of TKO and Endeavor for the time being. After Silver Lake takes Endeavor private, he will transition to a role as executive chairman of WME. While Emanuel has conceded that his constellation of assets didn’t work as a public company, he believes there is still a big opportunity to invest in live events across sports, music and food. 

(Adds Emanuel declined to comment in second paragraph.)

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