Rapidly gaining in value, sports rights are an attractive investment
According to BDLive, investment holding company Remgro, chaired by South African billionaire and rugby fan Johann Rupert, may be taking a card out of the US corporate playbook by growing its sport investment portfolio.
Across the globe, sports rights have been gaining in value so rapidly that some analysts have questioned whether a "sports bubble" is building, while at the same time many firms have invested in sports teams to benefit from this growth.
Remgro's subsidiary Kagiso Media's offer to acquire 100% of the shares of Bulls Rugby Holdings, could see Remgro having direct and indirect interests in one English and four South African rugby clubs. Remgro has also stakes in the Saracens in England, in sport, entertainment and marketing investment company the Marc Group, in the Welkom-based Griffons Rugby Union, as well as shareholding in Western Province Rugby. A Kagiso subsidiary, Mobil Alliance, has the stadium advertising contract with the Sharks rugby club and the Western Province Rugby Union.
According to a report by financial services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), released yesterday, advertising spending in sports in SA is projected to have compound annual increases of 6.5% over the next four years. The report says that even the gate market, which is relatively weak in SA, is expected to expand, benefiting from added teams in Super Rugby and from international events that may be shifted to SA because it now has the infrastructure to host such events, BDLive reports.
Read the full article on http://www.bdlive.co.za
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