At least four Am Law 100 firms have grabbed lead roles on the sale of global sports talent, media and marketing giant IMG Worldwide to rival William Morris Endeavor Entertainment and private equity backer Silver Lake Partners.
While the terms of the deal announced Wednesday were not disclosed, multiple reports pegged its value at north of $2 billion, with Bloomberg putting the winning bid at $2.4 billion. WME and Silver Lake landed IMG by besting several rival bidders in an auction set up by current owner Forstmann Little & Co., the private equity firm now liquidating its portfolio following the November 2011 death of cofounder Theodore Forstmann.
