Is WME-IMG Strapped For Cash Or Ready To Invest? Fidelty Follows SoftBank With $55 Million Investment

Is William Morris Endeavor-IMG strapped for cash or hording dollars to fuel acquisitions? The talent agency took on massive debt when it acquired sports agency IMG for $2.4 billion. Last month, SoftBank acquired a minority stake in WME-IMG. Now, Fidelity has added $55 million.

Fidelity Management & Research Co., the largest mutual fund investor in the U.S., has taken a $55 million stake in talent agency WME-IMG. Fidelity's investment comes less than a month after Japanese investor SoftBank Group Corp. acquired a $250 million minority stake in WME-IMG , as part of a deal that put the estimated value of the agency at $5.5 billion. The Raine Group acted as financial advisor on the Fidelity deal, on behalf WME-IMG. Paul Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as legal advisors. WME-IMG, created in 2014 by WME's $2.4 billion dollar acquisition of talent and sports agency IMG, has been expanding into a variety of new arenas beyond their traditional talent representation business. Since their 2014 merger with IMG, the agency has acquired a professional bull riding league, stylist and make-up artist agency The Wall Group and an e-sports management company. Earlier this week, the agency announced an investment in Frieze, a contemporary fine arts company, known for staging art fairs in London and New York, as well as the magazine it publishes. via Celebrity Access