Palatine buys into football's lawyers with Centrefield deal
What's the deal? Manchester buyout firm PalatineDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has agreed to acquire CentrefieldDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Manchester sports law boutique whose clients include Manchester UnitedDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Manchester CityDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, according to LawFuel. Terms are undisclosed and the transaction still requires regulatory approval. It is Palatine's first move into legal services.
Why Centrefield? The boutique worked on deals involving 18 Premier League clubs in a single transfer window, with fees approaching £1.8 billion. Its fee income rose by a fifth last year.
What's the endgame? Centrefield says the investment will fund expansion into the US and Europe, partly through acquisitions. Co-founder Edward Canty said becoming "the leading global specialist sports law firm" required "an experienced strategic investment partner."
The context: Private equity already owns stakes in clubs including ChelseaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, RedBirdDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → holds AC MilanDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and US funds own interests in roughly half the Premier League. The firms serving those clubs are the next logical target. LawFuel likens boutiques with dominant positions in a closed market to toll booths rather than conventional law firms.
Why now? Centrefield is not an outlier. In March, London rival NorthridgeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → sold a minority stake to San Francisco investor CordilleraDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →; in August, offshore firm MourantDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → sold 27% of its group to MMLDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. Two of Britain's best-known sports boutiques have taken outside capital within seven months.
What could go wrong? Private equity typically seeks a return and an exit within five to seven years, while lawyers owe duties to clients and courts that do not follow a fund's timetable. Investors also buy client relationships and star partners — the assets most likely to walk. LawFuel points to PlexusDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an early PE-backed law firm whose backer wrote its investment down to zero.
The signal: England has allowed non-lawyer ownership since the Legal Services Act, making it a testing ground for a model most US states still prohibit. As capital floods elite sport, the question for ambitious boutiques is no longer whether to take outside money, but who to take it from and on what terms.
Read more: alpha-maven.com
Image credit: BruceW.
