Cannae Deepened Sports Bet With Exeter Rugby Acquisition
The company sold its Watkins stake for $90 million, generating a nearly 10% internal rate of return.
Cannae Holdings (CNNE), the investment holding company, shifted its portfolio further toward sports and entertainment by acquiring Exeter Rugby Group and exiting its minority investment in Watkins. Cannae bought Exeter at an enterprise value of £32.6 million, or about $43 million, and invested £19.6 million at closing.
The transactions extended a strategy centered increasingly on sports assets. Cannae also sold Brasada Ranch in exchange for terminating Vice Chairman William Foley’s put right, completing a related-party portfolio transaction alongside the Watkins divestiture.
Black Knight Football’s quarterly revenue rose 45% to $88.7 million for the three months ended March 31. The business swung to net income of $23.8 million from a $26.1 million loss, while adjusted EBITDA excluding player-trading profit increased to $34.1 million from $8.0 million.
Over the trailing 12 months, Black Knight Football’s revenue increased 25% to $301.3 million, including contributions from newly consolidated FC Lorient and Moreirense. EBITDA reached $207.4 million as player-trading profit climbed to $158.9 million, while adjusted EBITDA excluding player trading rose to $45.6 million. Its operating loss widened to $109.5 million even as net income swung to $37.0 million.
AFC Bournemouth generated record trailing-12-month revenue of $282.9 million, up 17%. Revenue associated with the club’s sixth-place Premier League finish had yet to enter the lagged results and was expected in the next reporting quarter. Black Knight Football’s player-transfer receivables increased to $251.1 million, while related liabilities rose to $280.7 million.
Performance elsewhere in the portfolio was mixed. JANA Partners’ quarterly revenue declined 10% to $5.2 million, and its trailing-12-month revenue fell to $21.8 million as period-end assets under management decreased to $2.0 billion. Cannae had raised its JANA ownership to 50% after a September 2024 investment, lifting its net investment in the firm to $116.9 million.
Alight’s second-quarter revenue declined 3.2% to $511 million, while adjusted EBITDA fell 28% to $92 million. The company set full-year 2024 guidance of $2.078 billion to $2.098 billion in revenue and $400 million to $415 million in adjusted EBITDA.
Cannae made no additional share repurchases after its May earnings report because of recently announced transactions. Year-to-date repurchases remained at 3.4 million shares for $44 million, leaving capital deployment focused on the portfolio reshaping.