Sportradar and Horizon Need More Time to Thrash $10B Deal

Negotiations between supplier of sports data and integrity solutions Sportradar and Horizon Acquisition Corp. II would need more time to complete according to a person familiar with the talks, Sportico reports.

Negotiations Deepen, Possible Agreement within a Week

Switzerland-based Sportradar and the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) led by co-owner of the franchise from Major League Baseball (MLB) Los Angeles Dodgers, Todd Boehly, reportedly entered into negotiations in March for a merger in a deal valued at $10 billion as a path for the sports data and integrity company to go public.

Though the signed letter of intent between Horizon and Sportradar is no guarantee for a deal and despite the slow progress in negotiations, unnamed sources on both sides believe a formal agreement is within reach for the coming week.

The two persons which were granted anonymity by the reporting media due to the private nature of the talks revealed that Sportradar and the SPAC recently entered the phase of information exchange with institutional investors as both companies plan to sell equity prior to going public via a private investment in public equity (PIPE).

PIPE, which is fairly common in SPAC-type acquisitions, will most likely be part of the deal which, when complete, will represent one of the largest SPAC valuations and one of the largest for a sports business entity. One of the sources claims conversations between Sportradar and Horizon just reached the point of private financial disclosures.

A possible reason for the extension of the negotiation period, which in deals involving SPACs usually takes between 2 and 8 weeks, could simply mean both companies need more time to thrash out the deal or just reconsider some aspects of it due to the recent guidance from the Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) on SPAC accounting and the need to streamline language for regulators.

SPACs Lose Investor Appeal

The furore in the SPAC space from the early months of the year which resulted in more than 400 new entities being formed through March, started to fade away, bringing down the number of recently filed applications to just a handful, due to institutional investors’ reluctance to participate in such deals, as well as regulators’ looking to tamper excitement.

Founded in 2001 Sportradar sells sports data to sports media and sports betting operators globally, and has the National Football League (NFL) among its investors, as well as a trio of National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise owners, Mark Cuban, Ted Leonsis and Michael Jordan.

Horizon Acquisition Corp. II is one of several SPACs led by Todd Boehly, the majority owner of Connecticut-based Eldridge Industries, who also has a limited partnership in Los Angeles Dodgers and a venture capital investment in DraftKings.