German soccer league to kick off partial rights sale in February

MUNICH (Reuters) - Germany's leading soccer league, the Bundesliga, plans to start an auction for a stake in its overseas broadcasting rights in February, managing director Christian Seifert said on Monday.

The deal would bring outside investors into one of the game's biggest leagues, whose revenue has plummeted during the pandemic with matches being played in empty stadiums.

The German Football League (DFL), which organises the top two leagues, has sent out information packages about a 10-25% stake in a newly created company managing the broadcasting rights outside Germany, people close to the matter said.

The sale could value the overseas broadcasting rights at more than 1 billion euros, the people said.

Investment bank Nomura is handling the deal and has registered expressions of interest from about 30 private equity firms including Bain, BC Partners, Blackstone, Bridgepoint, Carlyle, Cinven, CVC, KKR and Permira, they said.

The Bundesliga, like other European leagues, has been hit by reduced spending on sports rights as international TV networks struggle with reduced advertising revenue from customers.

The 2020/21 season will see a 20% drop in turnover of about one billion euros ($1.21 billion), compared with the last regular season in 2018/2019, if fans have to continue to stay away from games, the DFL has said.

Elsewhere, Italy's Serie A soccer league has already agreed to accept a deal to sell a 10% stake in a new unit that will handle the league's broadcast rights to buyout firms CVC and Advent.

The Bundesliga's overseas broadcasting rights usually generate annual revenues of up to 300 million euros but will likely bring in only 180 million euros next year.

Separately, the league reported low ticket sales this year due to the pandemic, compared with around 650 million euros in revenue from ticket sales in normal years.

The prospective buyers declined to comment or were not immediately available for comment. Nomura declined to comment.

($1 = 0.8240 euros)

(Reporting by Alexander Hübner and Arno Schuetze; Editing by Edward Taylor and Jane Merriman)