Range Media Partners has secured a minority investment from a group including Liberty Global and TPG founding partner David Bonderman’s family office Wildcat Capital Management.
Family entertainment company Playground Productions is also a participant in the new round, terms of which were not disclosed. The new investors join an existing roster of backers, among them A+E Networks and hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen’s Point72.
In announcing the deal, Range said it would help “spur growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions.”
Since Deadline broke news of the formation of Range in 2020 with a bunch of best and brightest who left CAA, WME and other posts, the management/production concern has slowly expanded its operations into entertainment sports, music, digital, advertising and other sectors.
Over the past year, Range solidified its film capabilities by merging with La La Land production company Automatik. The firm also set out a sports strategy calling for the acquisition of growth-stage companies within the media rights, athlete marketing and golf verticals; and fortified its music efforts by launching a music publishing division and opening a Nashville office.
Establishing ties with Liberty Global, the John Malone-chaired provider of pay-TV and broadband services outside the U.S., will enable Range to start pursuing its ambitions for overseas expansion.
The investor group, comprised of affiliates of Liberty Global and an investment fund advised by Wildcat Capital as well as Rick Hess, was led by Forest Road Asset Management and accompanied by Playground’s investment. In connection with the capital investment, Hess, a former CAA film finance exec and head of merchant bank Evolution Media who now runs Cobalt Capital, was appointed to serve on Range’s governing body as Forest Road’s representative.
“We founded Range with the express intention to build a multi-vertical, full-service offering, one that extends beyond the traditional business of film & TV representation in order to catapult client careers and ambitions through the broader entertainment & media landscape as well as through technology and diversified ventures,” CEO Peter Micelli said. “We saw the dynamic changes happening, our clients were feeling them through the ripple effect, and we wanted to be more aggressive in how we could advantageously leverage those changes accordingly.”
Range Managing Partner Jack Whigham called the new minority stakeholders “ideal strategic partners for Range’s next stage of growth. We have been very deliberate during this process, wanting to find top-tier, blue-chip partners who have a unique perspective on our industry and are as committed as we are to an innovative long-term strategy to unlock global value for our clients.”
ACF Investment Bank advised the investor group and Greenberg Traurig served as its legal counsel. Cooley served as legal counsel to Liberty, while Range was represented by Jones Day.
This story was written by Dade Hayes, originally published on Deadline