Morgan Stanley and Evercore are getting down to business this weekend.
The two banks working on the hottest media auction in town, IMG, are set to cut their list of prospective buyers after the latest round of bids was delivered late last week, sources told On the Money.
Sports Business Journal reports the list of bidders will be halved.
IMG, once owned by Teddy Forstmann’s Fortsmann, Little private equity shop, is being chased by some of Tinseltown’s fiercest competitors: CAA’s Richard Lovett, WME co-CEOs Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell, and Peter Chernin, each of whom is paired with private-equity partners who are going to have to dig deep.
The Post previously reported that bidding was in the $2.7 billion area. The pairings include CAA-TPG, WME Silver Lake, Chernin and CVC Capital.
Also bidding in the second round were KKR and New Mountain, Bain, Carlyle and Rizvi Traverse Management.
While the existing talent shops are the most eager bidders, management is keen to hang on to their seats and haven’t entirely opened the kimono for either CAA or WME.
One name not moving forward is billionaire Len Blavatnik, who owns Warner Music Group. Blavatnik, one of the richest men in the world, had been quietly looking at the asset to bolster his interest in European digital sports agency Perform Sports, but our sources say he’s now out.
Meanwhile, IMG boss Mike Dolan had a mixed bag last week. The company signed Christie Brinkley and her daughter Sailor to modeling contracts but also axed the folks producing its New York and Miami fashion shows in favor of outsourcing the event production, according to reports.