Stefan Felsing has returned to Lagardère Sports after an agreement was reached for the agency to be acquired by private equity investment firm H.I.G. Capital.
H.I.G. Europe has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the company, with the Lagardère Group to retain a minority shareholding of 24.9 per cent as part of the deal. The transaction is subject to clearance from the relevant antitrust authorities.
Felsing has previously held a range of management positions within Lagardère Sports and various predecessor companies.
Felsing said: “I am looking forward to returning to a former place of work in the context of my new responsibilities. Lagardère Sports has enormous potential, particularly given the company’s unique culture and the long-standing trusted partnership with its customers. Together with H.I.G., a strong and experienced investor, we are ideally positioned to continue building on these great assets. We are ready to leverage the full potential of the firm.”
Lagardère Sports is a leading sports marketing firm and provides sponsorship, media, brand consulting, event management and athlete services. The company will be rebranded following the completion of the H.I.G. Capital deal.
Antony Warren has been appointed as the new senior vice-president of business development events at Thrill One Sports & Entertainment, the company formed by the merger in January of Nitro Circus, Street League Skateboarding (SLS) and Superjacket Productions.
Warren previously served as vice-president and then senior vice-president of Nitro Circus. Before joining Nitro Circus in December 2017, he worked as Prime Live Events’ head of operations at Amazon.
Live Nation GSA managing director and chief operating officer Matt Schwarz has resigned from his role.
Schwarz spent almost five years in the role and his day-to-day duties will initially be taken over by Carrie McNamara, Matias Muelas and Natassja Roberts.
Live Nation GSA confirmed in a statement to Pollstar that the company had mutually agreed to end its collaboration with Schwarz and thanked him for his work.
Premiership Rugby has named Zoë Clapp and Mark Brittain as its new chief marketing officer and chief commercial officer, respectively.
Clapp and Brittain will take up their roles on February 24 and report to Premiership Rugby chief executive Darren Childs. The pair will help lead Premiership Rugby’s growth following its investment by CVC Capital Partners.
Clapp most recently worked as chief marketing and communications officer at BBC Studios company UKTV. In her new role, she will oversee marketing and brand, events, communications, social and digital products for the league.
Brittain joins Premiership Rugby from Sports Rights Management, where he has worked as chief executive since 2018, having previously held senior roles at Syco and XIX Entertainment. At Premiership Rugby, he will lead commercial strategy as the organisation looks to grow the value of its rights and explore new markets and partnerships.
Premiership club Northampton Saints has named Tony Davison as its new commercial director as it looks to increase revenues at its Franklin’s Gardens stadium.
Davison joins from League One football club Sunderland, where he served as managing director. In his new role, he will report to Saints chief executive Mark Darbon.
Davison has previously worked at Tottenham Hotspur, Oxford United, Lagardère and the IMG agency.
Arena Racing Company has appointed Bradley Hunt as chief finance officer and Alex Slade as general counsel.
Both are new roles within ARC and form part of the company’s senior management structure. Hunt joins from Collinson Group and in his new role he will oversee all financial affairs of ARC and its subsidiaries.
Slade will lead on all elements of corporate governance and legal affairs. He joins from Eleven Sports Network, where he served as head of legal. Slade has previously worked as head of legal (sport) at BT Sport and legal counsel at Nickelodeon UK.
Both Hunt and Slade will report to ARC chief executive Martin Cruddace and the company’s board.
Do you have news of an appointment that we should know about? Get in touch by emailing news.editor@thestadiumbusiness.com and we’ll include it in our next round-up.
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