International law firm CMS has advised Matchroom Sport (Matchroom), the market leading sporting events promotions company, on a global partnership and minority investment from Pitch International, a renowned sports marketing agency.
Founded over 40 years ago by Barry Hearn OBE, Matchroom has become one of the largest suppliers of sports content globally. It owns, produces, and promotes elite, global sporting events across its subsidiaries: Matchroom Boxing, the Professional Darts Corporation, World Snooker and Matchroom MultiSport.
This partnership will allow Matchroom to create and promote new sporting events, further globalise its audience, and continue its outstanding growth. The partnership also involves Pitch International acquiring a minority interest in Matchroom with the founding Hearn family retaining majority control.
CMS Corporate Partner and Co-Head of the Media Practice, Paul Guite, commented: “It has been a pleasure for the CMS team to work on this partnership, and we look forward to watching the new events and continued success of the Matchroom business. Our corporate team’s expertise, combined with our sports and media sector focus, ensured CMS was well placed to support Matchroom on this important transaction.”
Matchroom Group Global General Counsel, Shaun Palmer, added: “This partnership with Pitch is an exciting development for the Matchroom Group and lays the foundations for our future growth and success. Our thanks go to Paul, Ben and the wider CMS team, who have guided us throughout the process with expert and considered advice.”
The CMS team was led by Paul Guite and Ben McParland, and included Nana Donkor, Keith Martin, Annie Fuller, Karan Inamdar and Dion Davis (Corporate); Stephen Hignett and Alexander Oldland (Tax); Andrew Quayle and Dilpa Raval (Share Incentives); David Zeffman and Sam Oustayiannis (Media and Sport); and Russell Hoare and Ruth Derruau (Competition).
