Yahoo Finance Larry Ellison’s Sailing League Gets Brazil Expansion Team Owned by Mubadala
(Bloomberg) -- Mubadala Capital, an asset management firm owned by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, has acquired an expansion team in the international sailing competition SailGP.
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In a deal set to be announced Friday, the new team will represent Brazil as the league’s 11th team and its first squad from South America. It will be operated by IMM, a Brazilian sports and entertainment firm led by former Olympic sailor Alan Adler. Financial terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.
“There’s a rich sailing history in Brazil,” SailGP Managing Director Andrew Thompson said in an interview. “We can see there’s a groundswell of support for establishing a team in the country.”
SailGP, a championship where teams race 50-foot foiling catamarans, was started by Oracle Corp.’s billionaire co-founder Larry Ellison and yachtsman Russell Coutts in 2019 and has been selling off its remaining league-owned teams to private owners. In November, SailGP sold the US team for more than $40 million. Thompson said the Brazil sale is its biggest transaction to date without disclosing the exact size.
Mubadala is already entwined with SailGP through other projects. It’s an existing sponsor and has its name on the league’s race in New York that’s set for this weekend, which will be the second-to-last race of the current season. In May, SailGP announced a partnership with Mubadala-owned aerospace facility Strata Manufacturing to develop and manufacture hydrofoils and rudders for its catamarans.
Brazil is a key investment target for Mubadala’s parent firm, Mubadala Investment Co., which manages assets in the United Arab Emirates and abroad. Mubadala Capital plans to invest $1 billion per year in the country to expand its holdings there.
“This acquisition not only adds to our investment portfolio, but also aligns with our long-term commitment to investing in Brazil,” Mubadala Chief Investment Officer Oscar Fahlgren said in a statement.
The finale of SailGP’s 13-race season, which has held competitions in locations including Dubai, Sydney and Bermuda, will be held in San Francisco in July. Going forward, races may also be held in Brazil.
The league currently has 10 teams including Canada, Spain, the US, Germany, France and Australia. Management is in discussions to sell additional teams and plans to expand to 12 teams by next season. They’re also considering expansion into Asia longer term and looking at markets such as China, Japan and South Korea.
New Zealand currently holds the league’s top position in the standings, which is the league’s fourth season. Australia has won the championship in each of the previous three seasons.
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