Endeavor expecting to raise approximately $600 million from upcoming IPO

Endeavor Group Holdings, owners of the UFC, are looking to blaze a new trail as a major global entertainment company—when they enter the stock…

By: Zane Simon | 4 years ago
Endeavor expecting to raise approximately $600 million from upcoming IPO
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Endeavor Group Holdings, owners of the UFC, are looking to blaze a new trail as a major global entertainment company—when they enter the stock market as a publicly traded company. The massive conglomerate that includes the William Morris Agency and the International Management Group (IMG) had planned to hit the stock market over the summer, but delayed that move to finalize acquisition of another piece of its expanding media empire—On Location Experiences, a company that creates VIP packages for major sporting and entertainment events.

Now, the LA Times reports that, in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, plans to move ahead with their IPO this fall—at an estimated share price of $30-32 for an expected 19,354,839 shares. That puts their total planned earnings for the IPO somewhere between $600-620 million.

Of that, Variety reports that Endeavor will put $500 million toward paying down their massive debt load (said to be as much as 9.5x their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). An additional $46.8 million of their IPO earnings will apparently be used to as general business funds.

At the time the IPO was initially announced, experts warned of caution. Analyst Todd Juenger of the Bernstein Research Group noted that “shareholder will need to be willing to accept an extraordinary high amount of debt and very tight interest coverage.” Adding that Endeavor has a “questionable ability to de-lever organically, depending on one’s confidence in revenue growth and operating leverage.”

The end result is a major business gamble that the UFC has seemingly no control over, but which could have far reaching potential impacts on the future of the world’s largest MMA organization.

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About the author
Zane Simon
Zane Simon

Zane Simon is a senior editor, writer, and podcaster for Bloody Elbow. He has worked with the website since 2013, taking on a wide variety of roles. A lifelong combat sports fan, Zane has trained off & on in both boxing and Muay Thai. He currently hosts the long-running MMA Vivisection podcast, which he took over from Nate Wilcox & Dallas Winston in 2015, as well as the 6th Round podcast, started in 2014. Zane is also responsible for developing and maintaining the ‘List of current UFC fighters’ on Bloody Elbow, a resource he originally developed for Wikipedia in 2010.

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