TV RIGHTS FOOTBALL, INFRONT PASS TO CHINESE FOR 1 BILLION

Handover to Infront Sports & Media AG. The Swiss company, owner of the TV rights for the Italian Serie A and other major sporting events, was bought for 1.05 billion euro from Dalian Wand, Chinese giant active on the property market and entertainment property tycoon Wang Jianlin .
The operation would prove once again the interest of the Chinese group for the football world (already in the capital of Atletico Madrid with an investment of 45 million euro) and in general for all the major sporting events.
Infront, noted Jianlin, “is well positioned to actively support China in its efforts to host sporting events.”
Infront is also the exclusive agent for the sale of television broadcasting rights for the World Championships Cup in 2018 and 2022, represents the FIFA in 26 Asian territories, including China and India, until 2022, after the interests of some Olympic federations of winter games and has ties to the Chinese Basketball Association.
The next step, as announced in a press conference the same Jianlin, will be landing on the Stock Exchange of Infront although it still remains a mystery, the timing of the IPO and the stock market on which they will quote.
But the surprises do not end there, in the program there are two further acquisitions by the end of the year as part of entertainment.
Infront holds and manages media and marketing rights for sporting events worldwide and is closely linked to the world of football. Its president and CEO, Philippe Blatter, nephew of Sepp Blatter is in fact, for years the number one of the powerful world federation of football, FIFA.
For Blatter, the agreement with the Chinese is intended to support investment and to improve the supply of services in sports.
According to Xavier Robert, partner of private equity firm Bridgepoint, owner of Infront in 2011, control of Wanda and the increased involvement in sports will strengthen China’s ambitions to host in the future the World Cup Soccer. Robert also revealed that several other companies have tried to acquire Infront, but Wanda saw the game with the ability to help the Swiss company to grow in the important Chinese market and therefore to increase sales in 2014 exceeded 900 million dollars.