TPG, Owner of CAA, Files For Public Offerings
The private equity firm TPG is best known as the majority owner of talent agency CAA in entertainment circles. This week we see the file to go public with an IPO, or initial public offering, listing under the Nasdaq ticker TPG. It’s an exciting move for the representation world, so entertainment lawyer at Blake & Wang P.A, Brandon Blake, has more on the matter.
$109 Billion Under Management
TPG currently has $109B under management and has been becoming more and more active in media, tech, and entertainment over recent years. CAA is not its only entertainment acquisition, although it may be the most high-profile. It also has fingers in Vice Media, Entertainment Partners, Fandom, STX Entertainment, Spotify, Hotwire, and Cirque du Soleil. In fact, the last piece of large-scale press attention it attracted was fundraising for Vice in September. It is also currently involved in a deal with AT&T, with TPG to hold 30% of the new company formed from the telecom giant’s ex-TV business, DirecTV.
In the Form S-1 filing, it’s clear that they see content creation as one of their future Growth areas, built mainly off of their investment in CAA. TPG invests in five multi-product platforms: Capital, Growth, Impact, Real Estate, and Market Solutions, so it’s interesting to see Growth come to the fore. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, and TPG Capital BD, LLC will act as (joint) lead book-running managers for the proposed offering.
Second Major Hollywood Agency with Equity Exposure
Should the IPO be accepted, this will make CAA the second agency to gain such exposure to the public equity markets. Endeavor Group Holdings, the owner of WME, was the first, also list their IPO this year.
Not that it’s wise to equate the two too closely. TPG share buyers will gain exposure to all of their investments, not merely the agency. Not bad, given they have 280 active companies in play at the moment. However, CAA has been the center of a spinoff rumor for TPG for a while now, and their recent acquisition of ICM Partners in September has done little to squash that.
Of course, the proposed offering is still in its infancy, so we don’t yet have a date for completion or any details on the terms and size. It’s notable, however, how many entertainment IPOs we’ve seen this year, after a slow 2020 for the markets. Even Reddit has recently filed to go public. Endeavor, of course, is already listed under the ticker EDR.
There’s been a lot of movement around the biggest Hollywood agencies this year. Part of it has to be attributed to the lessening of the global health crisis and the resumption of business as usual across all markets. Some, we can assume, also come from an eagerness to leverage new income streams after the rigorous deal with the WGA capped their investment in production and put a nail in the coffin for packaging.
While we wait on final formalities for the deal, Brandon will be watching other developments with interest.
