Town Announce New £105m Investment From Bright Path Sports Partners Friday, 22nd Mar 2024 17:01
Town have announced a £105 million investment from US-based private equity firm, Bright Path Sports Partners, who have secured a stake of just over 40 per cent of the club.
In a statement, the club outlined the development: “The investment is being made to support the club in the long-term and comes at a time when the Three Lions fund, represented by Berke Bakay and Brett Johnson at board level, has also significantly increased its investment.
“Bright Path Sports is to be represented by co-founders Jake Zahnow and Phillip Ciano. Their investment is comprised of several limited partners, of which Sam Simon, the founder of Simon Group Holdings and Simon Sports, is the primary funder.
“Following Bright Path Sports’ investment, ORG, which manages funds for PSPRS (the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System) and is headed by Ed Schwartz, remains the majority and controlling shareholder in the Club, retaining a c50 per cent holding. The remaining 10 per cent is made up of smaller investors including the Three Lions [and former owner Marcus Evans].
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“CEO Mark Ashton will continue to manage the day-to-day running of the club, with new investors Bright Path Sports providing capital and strategic thinking which will be of significant benefit to the club.”
Schwartz, co-founder and principal of ORG, told the club website: “When we purchased Ipswich Town in 2021, we did so with the initial aim of restoring the Club to the Championship and becoming competitive at this level, with the plan always including bringing a partner on board when the time was right.
“The club’s progress means we feel that time is now and we are excited to welcome Bright Path Sports. Alongside the continued day-to-day leadership of Mark Ashton, who we are delighted has further committed his future to the club, we look forward to Bright Path bringing significant value to Ipswich Town in the coming years.”
Blues CEO Ashton added: “We are excited to welcome Bright Path Sports on what is another landmark day in the club’s history.
“This is a day that further secures the long-term future of the football club and gives us the means to move the club forward as we benefit from the wide range of skills and experiences Bright Path’s investors will bring.
“The investment will continue to support the club in both the medium and long term, with the biggest immediate use being to support a number of key infrastructure projects, including the significant redevelopment of the training ground at Playford Road.” Bakay, one of the Three Lions, said: “We are delighted Bright Path have committed capital to the club alongside the additional funds we have invested.
“The start of our journey at Ipswich has been an incredible one and we look forward to continuing it alongside our new partners.”
Sam Simon, the lead investor in the Bright Path-Ipswich link-up, said: “We are excited to be making this investment in a brilliant football club.
“We love the history, the potential for the future, the passionate fans and the management of the club, who are amazing people. We invest in people and this is perfect for us.
“We believe in investing for the future in order to give the team and management the tools to do their jobs and we’re excited to be working together.”
Bright Path Sports co-founder, Jake Zahnow added: “Phil and I looked at teams all over the world regarding possible investments and, after meeting Mark and Ed, we stopped looking.
“We are here to provide capital while offering our input whenever Mark and Ed need it, but first-and-foremost our job is to support them whenever it is required.
“Mark and the team at Ipswich have an in-depth knowledge and vast experience of running football clubs and we love the direction the club is moving in, while being excited for the future.”
The new investment has led to changes at board level with Simon and Zahnow joining the board of Gamechanger 20 Ltd, the club’s parent company, which was set up in order to complete the purchase of the Blues from former owner Evans.
Ashton will also join the board of Gamechanger 20 Ltd, while Town’s chief operating officer Luke Werhun will join the boards of both Gamechanger 20 Ltd and the football club itself.
Ed Schwartz, chairman Mike O’Leary and chief financial officer (CFO) Tom Ball will continue as board members of both Gamechanger 20 Ltd and the football club.
We understand discussions regarding the investment have been ongoing since before the club’s promotion to the Championship with the club’s owners having made their intention to bring in other investment clear since the takeover.
Bright Path Sports Partners’ website outlines their mission statement: “Bright Path Sports Partners is the first ever private equity and advisory firm exclusively dedicated to raising and deploying Native American capital into professional sports franchises, facilities and ancillary opportunities.
“Bright Path brings lucrative professional sports and related opportunities to a historically underrepresented class (Native Americans), while meeting the continuing trend in professional sports to advance equity and inclusion from ownership to front office and beyond.
“Bright Path combines a diversity and social equity mission with more than 75 combined years of experience in sports law, finance, management and Native American investment.”
The website also includes brief biographies of Ciano and Zahnow. Of Ciano, it says: “Phil is a founding partner of Ciano & Goldwasser, LLP – a national sports law/deal boutique representing private and public companies, global talent agencies and diversified investment funds.
“Clients include public and closely held companies and international sports agencies/certified agents in professional baseball, basketball and football.
“Phil is responsible for Bright Path’s overall leadership as well as origination of professional sports and ancillary investment opportunities.
“He is an Ohio licensed sports agent, an active member of the Sports Lawyers Association, and sits on multiple boards including the board of the American Cancer Society.”
Regarding Zahnow, it says: “Jake has decades of experience in corporate development and management of start-ups and fortune 500 companies in automotive, building materials, retail and distribution.
“Jake brings deep experience in operations, corporate finance, family office management, private equity and mergers & acquisitions.
“Jake is primarily responsible for origination and execution and will serve as Bright Path’s chief financial officer.”
Simon Sports’ website describes itself as “a sports investment firm and management group that serves as an umbrella for Sam Simon and his son Peter Simon’s sports ventures. Simon Sports is headquartered in Birmingham, Michigan.”
It has two divisions, the operations division, which is focused on sports teams, providing the day-to-day support of the company’s management of the ‘franchises’ it owns.
And investments, which the website says “identifies and contributes to cutting edge technologies and diverse emerging developments across the sports industry.”
Mentioned in its portfolio is the Halifax Mooseheads ice hockey side, as well as other hockey and golf investments.
Simon fled Iraq aged nine in 1973 with his family having been persecuted as an Armenian Catholic.
He launched Atlas Oil Co in 1985 with a single delivery truck and has built it into a multi-billion gallon-a-year fuel wholesaler with over 500 employees.
That led to the formation of Simon Group Holdings, which is based in Birmingham, MI.
TWTD first got a hint that new investment was close after the Sunderland game in January when CEO Ashton and COO Werhun had been spotted giving some unknown Americans a tour of Playford Road, then later they were spotted similarly being shown around Portman Road and grabbing photos in the dugouts.
A full interview with Schwartz, Ashton, Simon, Zahnow, O’Leary and Bakay, is now free to watch on the club’s TownTV.
Photo: Action Images
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These are very bright people. Phil Ciano and his associates are legit. This is a wonderful move. Side note, this calculates to a £260m valuation of ITFC. Considering Gamechanger spent £40M just 3 years ago, that’s astonishing equity growth.
Just hope involvement from more does not affect the unity and direction of travel . The yet more ‘complicated’ ownership is challenging for supporters to understand ,and we can but trust those who’ve overseen success to date to preserve all the principled attitudes and ethics . Most importantly we must ensure there’s NO interference with the management of MA and KM : sometimes ‘too many cooks etc ‘ — to be avoided ! COYB
I should be happy but I’m also a little bit wary as I look at Todd bhoely at Chelsea and remember these Americans are here to make a profit! I dunno it is great what is going on but so much to ponder on what will happen in 2/3 seasons time! I’m happy but just a little bit gaurded
From a £40m purchase to a valuation of £262.5m in 24 months is highly impressive returns and shows the value of well placed investments and good leadership. The only defence I’d give to the previous owner is that what he did wasn’t that dissimilar to many other clubs in lower divisions – if he wants to return to owning a football club then he needs to start smaller and learn from both his experience and from seeing how things are done properly.
Additionally the board will grow with new stakeholders/owners as we slowly transform from a sleeping League One team to being on the brink of the Premier League. Even if we yo-yo for a few seasons at least we’ll get into the parachute money scale while we continue building.
This season our first target was staying up, second to make the play offs and ultimately to win promotion. The first two have been achieved with the final one still realistically on the table. It’s great progress even if we miss out this year. Continuing to grow and the Premier League will become our default.
Is this really an ‘investment’ or are gamechanger not making a quick buck selling some of their equity in the club? Obviously by selling on part of their shareholding for £105m to another company it means more funds available but I am not sure it should read as £105m to be invested into ITFC.
Does anyone know if the money the club is receiving for the shares will be able to be used in the FFP/SCMP allowance as income received by the club moving forward? If it is then it will give us a lot more wriggle room
The comments above reflect it, market capitalisation now somewhere north of £1/4bn for a club you couldn’t give away three years ago, and I agree that we should think carefully about slagging Marcus Evans off too much now, yes he presided over a dreadful era in our history, but he at least had the decency to hold on for the right deal for our future.
I have it on good authority he turned down more money to find the right people and he must get some credit for that.
In terms of the future, well it’s capital so you can’t spend it on players, but you can build stands with it so thats now covered
Gcon. What’re you on about? The money is going into the club. Not to gamechanger. Gamechanger have,clearly stated they are here for the long term, not for a,quick buck.
Churchmans: you’re absolutely right. We should go and talk to all those Englishmen who were looking to invest in the club when Evans wanted to sell and see if they’re still interested. Also, look at all the great work Evans himself did when he was in charge. Who needs Americans with their capital and proven management concepts?
Interesting that this new outfit have made their investment without knowing what our status will be next season. It all sounds very promising and ethical. It’s all a far cry from the years of Cobbold ownership but like it or not this is the football business we have to accept. Pity they can’t take a majority holding in Sky to better regulate their control over football.
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.
“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”
Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.
Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.
Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.
In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.
The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.
And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.
The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
