Certuity, an RIA and multi-family office with $3.3 billion in assets under management, has invested in the Italy SailGP team, along with Hollywood star Anne Hathaway.
Hathaway and Certuity are part of the team’s new ownership group under Muse Capital, which is led by sports investor Assia Grazioli-Venier and Moncler fashion executive Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo of the Passi de Preposulo noble family in Italy. The Italy SailGP team is sponsored by Red Bull and has a team valuation of $45 million, according to The Athletic.
“What’s attractive to us is we think that the timing of this is really interesting, because the model has been tested,” said Certuity president Rich Bursek. “You've got really good sponsors, you've got an audience that's supporting it, a younger demographic. It's something that there's no competition, there's not like a bunch of other global sailing leagues that are out there.”
SailGP has partnered with DraftKings and Bet 365 to let fans bet on races, starting with this weekend’s New York Grand Prix on June 7 and 8. A race in New Zealand earlier this year garnered a record 25,000 ticketed fans, according to CNBC. The league’s 12 co-ed teams race 50-foot Catamaran boats that can travel up to 60 miles per hour.
Billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison launched SailGP in 2018 with New Zealand Olympic yachtsman Russell Coutts. Races are held around the world with teams based across Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil. Sports Business Journal reported that SailGP will have revenue between $100 million and $150 million this year, a huge increase from the $10 million the league generated in its 2019 debut season.
Rolex signed a 10-year deal to become SailGP’s title sponsor last year, while other sponsors include DP World, Emirates, Deutsche Bank, Tommy Hilfiiger, and the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala. Bursek says about 70 Certuity investors will gain exposure to SailGP through the firm’s Alts Plus Fund, representing opportunities that are generally non-correlated to public markets.
Certuity was an early investor in the private equity firm Blue Owl's Dyal Homecourt fund, which has invested in NBA teams including the Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, and Minnesota Timberwolves since the fund launched in 2020. Former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry is an investor in SailGP’s U.S. team, while soccer star Kylian Mbappé bought a stake in the France SailGP team.
"This was before the [NBA's] media rights deal that just got announced. So the timing was really good, we knew that that deal was coming up, and it's been a great investment," Bursek said of Certuity's NBA team investments, referring to the league's $76 billion broadcast package signed in 2024. "Sports always gets our attention because there's a scarcity part of it and a high demand. SailGP 12 months ago we knew very little about, and we dove into it pretty quickly."
The NFL became the last of North America’s major professional sports leagues last year to begin letting private equity make minority investments in teams. In contrast to the NFL where the average team is valued around $6.5 billion, Bursek believes emerging sports like SailGP offer more investment upside and a more feasible path towards ownership control perks.
“Like with any other business, when you own somewhere between 10% or higher, you can get some really good governance - you can ask to be on the board, you're going to be able to vote, have some first rights of refusal on things and specific terms and conditions,” said Bursek. “So it just gives you a lot, whereas if you're 0.2% of any company, you're super passive and you don't have a say.”
Image sources
Anne Hathaway, WikiCommons
Red Bull Italy SailGP Team, SailGP
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