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Bryson DeChambeau’s agency is denying playing any role in helping LIV Golf find its new mystery investor, despite a notable connection between the two.
While LIV did not reveal details of who has agreed to back the league moving forward or how much money they’re committing, BC Partners is said to be the firm in talks with LIV, according to Bloomberg and the Financial Times. The international firm—with offices in Europe and the U.S.—describes itself as “a leading alternative investment manager focused on private equity and private credit.”
BC’s credit division, the one reportedly exploring aligning with LIV, in 2024 announced a “strategic investment” (financial details were not disclosed) in GSE Worldwide, the sports agency that represents DeChambeau and other golfers on both LIV and the PGA Tour. GSE has been majority-owned by London-based Gatemore Capital Management since 2018.
DeChambeau has been LIV’s biggest supporter and was offering his help to find new investors earlier this year. The golfer hasn’t spoken publicly since LIV CEO Scott O’Neil announced the investor news Wednesday morning. But his agency is pushing back on any notion that it assisted in LIV’s investor search.
“We want to provide a clarification regarding BC Partners and a potential financing transaction involving LIV Golf,” a GSE spokesperson said in a statement to Front Office Sports. “BC Partners acts as a lender to GSE. Gatemore holds 100% of the company’s voting shares. As always, GSE continues to operate independently in the best interests of our clients. The reported transaction is a matter for the parties involved. Neither GSE nor Gatemore were aware of the transaction or are participating in any of those discussions. Our focus remains entirely on delivering exceptional service to our clients.”
GSE declined to comment on whether DeChambeau is personally involved in the reported BC-LIV deal. “There’s a couple ideas that we have—quite a few ideas that we have that could be interesting,” DeChambeau said about LIV’s future in May. “We’ll see if investors like it or not. I’m giving all I can to make it happen, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t happen.”
BC also made a $400 million investment in 2024 in Riddell, the NFL’s official helmet manufacturer. The firm says it has invested more than $30 billion of capital worldwide since its inception in 1986.
If and when LIV announces more concrete details of its investor—the league expects to finalize a deal in September—the specifics of the deal will be key. A private credit deal, in which a firm like BC would lend money to LIV, would mean the firm would likely expect to eventually be repaid, as opposed to a private equity deal in which the company would focus on earning returns from the investment and ultimately sell its ownership stake.
BC Partners declined to comment.
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