Polsat snaps up controlling stake in Eleven Sports Poland

Polish media company and telco Cyfrowy Polsat has acquired a controlling stake in sports broadcaster Eleven Sports' Polish operation.

Polsat has snapped up 50 per cent plus one share in Eleven Sports Poland for €38m ($44.5m), the company confirmed in a statement late yesterday (Thursday). The deal represents a strategic long-term investment, Polsat said.

Polsat struck the deal with Aser, the parent company of Eleven Sports' various operations in different territories. Aser is the investment vehicle of Andrea Radrizzani, who co-founded the MP & Silva agency and is the owner of English Championship football club Leeds United. None of Eleven's other international operations have been affected by the deal. 

“In the medium term, gaining access to the portfolio of sports rights held by Eleven Sports Network will strengthen the position of the company’s capital group in the increasingly fragmented television market,” Polsat added.

The first €18m instalment will be transferred within two days of the deal being signed, while the remaining €20m, adjusted by net debt, will be paid within four months of the first payment. If the value of the sports broadcaster, according to its results in 2020, exceeds its current market value of €80m, Polsat will pay an additional 25 per cent of the surplus above the benchmark figure.

Polsat said that it would finance the deal with its own funds. The telco also recently acquired a 33-per-cent stake in Polish rival Netia.

An Eleven spokesperson said that Eleven's subscribers in Poland would remain unaffected, with Eleven continuing to run the day-to-day business, with Krysztof Swiergiel, previously managing director of the Polish operation, becoming chief executive. All Eleven senior staff will also maintain their current positions.

Eleven added in a statement that the agreement supports the company's global expansion plans, with more new markets and several digital projects set to be revealed "in the coming weeks and months".

In Poland, Eleven has rights to the Spanish LaLiga, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga and English FA Cup football competitions. The broadcaster also has rights in the country to the Formula One motor-racing world championship, ATP 250 tennis tournaments, the European Handball Federation Champions League, mixed martial arts and speedway action.

“We are very proud of what we have achieved in under three years in Poland thanks to our fantastic local management team,” said Marc Watson, Eleven's executive chairman and group chief executive. “The agreement of this partnership with Telewizja Polsat is testament to our outstanding financial and operational success to date and our potential for further dynamic growth and development. This is an extremely exciting time for Eleven Sports and we look forward to working towards the new opportunities that the agreement presents, locally in Poland and internationally on a global scale.”

Aside from Poland, Eleven has operations in Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Singapore, Taiwan and the US.

Earlier this month the broadcaster marked its move into the UK and Irish sports-rights markets by ousting pay-television broadcaster Sky as the rights-holder to Spanish football’s LaLiga from 2018-19 to 2020-21. TV Sports Markets also understands that Eleven is poised to enter the Portuguese market imminently with deals lined up for rights to LaLiga and football’s Uefa Champions League.