JPMorgan announces creation of specialist sport investment banking team

USA-based multinational financial institution JPMorgan has formed a new division to offer advisory and financial solutions for clients looking to invest in the sport industry.

With sporting teams an attractive target for investors, JPMorgan, which recently advised on Manchester United’s minority stake sale to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has established a new sports-centred investment banking group that will be led by Eric Menell and Gian Pietro Sammartano, who lead the bank’s media investment banking divisions in North America and Europe.

The pair will report to Fred Turpin, JPMorgan’s Global Head of Media and Communications Investment Banking, for global sector coverage. Sammartano will also report to Burkhard Koep, who is the Managing Director and Head of Telecoms and Media for the EMEA region.

The team will work with JPMorgan’s investment banking, commercial banking and private bank sectors to offer advisory and financing solutions for investors looking to buy equity stakes in sports organisations.

In an internal communication reported by a range of media outlets, Turpin said that elite sports teams based in the USA and Europe commanded a total value of more than US$400 billion.

He wrote “sports has become an increasingly large asset class, attracting more and more institutional investors.”

The bank has advised on several significant mergers and acquisitions transactions in the sports industry, including Ratcliffe’s acquisition of a minority stake in Manchester United.

During the past year, it has also lent its expertise to Formula One owner Liberty Media and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

JPMorgan already has a sports financing franchise that provides funding for stadium and arena projects, including the ongoing upgrades made to Spanish football giant Real Madrid’s home venue in the Santiago Bernabeu.

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