The Lagardère Unlimited sports marketing division of media conglomerate Lagardère has confirmed that its proposed acquisition of the UFA Sports agency has been granted approval by the German competition authorities.
The process, which had been expected to take between four to six weeks, has now been completed and Lagardère Unlimited expects to finalise the deal by the end of June.
Founded in 2008, UFA is the European-based sports marketing subsidiary of European media group RTL. The original UFA Sports was one of three companies that merged to create Sportfive in 2001. Sportfive is owned by Lagardère Unlimited.
Upon announcing the initial acquisition agreement last month, Lagardère Unlimited said that the deal would reinforce its football and media assets, especially in Europe, and expand its portfolio of football marketing activities in Germany, Poland and Slovakia.
UFA will run as a subsidiary of Lagardère Unlimited, but will continue to operate its various football marketing activities in Germany as a separate and independent entity within the Lagardère Unlimited network of businesses.
Amongst its sports properties, UFA is the exclusive distributor of global rights for the International Premier Tennis League (pictured), while it has partnerships with pan-European ice hockey competition the Kontinental Hockey League and the United League European basketball tournament.
Lagardère Unlimited has also confirmed that UFA executives Stefan Felsing, Robert Müller von Vultejus, Nikolaus von Doetinchem and Karsten Mahlmann will stay on board in full-time roles. Current managing director, Philip Cordes, will remain on board as a consultant.