Endeavor delays IPO until fall in hopes of raising from Q2, $ 700M Acquisition – Deadline

Endeavor Group Holdings updated the scheduled timeline for its IPO to September at the earliest, giving it time to close a $ 700 million acquisition and post second-quarter results, according to a person familiar with the situation.

had previously estimated that the offer would be made in the second half of 2019, although some recent press releases indicated a goal to go public in the summer. However, August is not historically an ideal month to galvanize investor interest, hence the updated forecast.

After buying the UFC, Professional Bull Riders and streaming technology company NeuLion in recent years, Endeavor ends up picking up On the Spot experiences. This acquisition, for as much as $ 700 million, would provide an advanced hospitality benefit to Endeavor's increasingly diverse portfolio. On Location is part-owned by the NFL.

Endeavor will also show investor financial results for the quarter ending June 30.

Although the company has not yet priced the offer, it is likely to try to raise $ 500 million with a valuation of $ 7 to $ 8 billion, the source said.

An Endeavor representative declined to comment on the stock exchange listing plans.

Waiting to make an IPO is not a risk-free move. So far, the markets have presented favorable conditions, but the climate can certainly change, especially with many macroeconomic factors in flux, including US-China trade relations and the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy.

Endeavor has faced criticism from the Writers Guild and other Hollywood factions for their intended efforts to exploit investor interest in its business, which WGA and other critics say is increasingly based on conflict of interest. This is about the company's increasing production capacity, which may mean that Endeavor can negotiate against itself in some cases, in effect. At the request of the WGA, thousands of writer-creators have left WME and other major agencies in recent months as the problem has reached the brink.

Early in the evening, the WGA issued the statement on IPO for Endeavor: [19659002] “IPO from Endeavor constitutes an unsustainable contradiction. One way the company proposes to maximize shareholder profits is through conflicting business practices. This has already led to a riot of 1400 WGA-represented writers who have left the WME talent agency. IPO offers investors a business with conflicts of interest and risks, from extreme influence to an unreliable governance structure to potentially legal liability for antitrust and breach violations. "

The WGA clash is among several reasons why the IPO is" not for the faint of heart, "says Todd Juenger, an analyst at Bernstein Research. In a report last month, Juenger noted the company's significant debt levels and also the fact that operationally "most of the underlying earnings are both unstable and unpredictable."

The Wall Street Journal had the first IPO outlook report.