Hicks Muse to Acquire Brazilian Soccer Team –

Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. last month agreed to acquire the franchise assets of a popular Brazilian soccer team and will partner with a former Uruguayan soccer star to manage the business.

The deal will give Hicks Muse and its sports-business partner, The Muller Sports Group, the marketing, exhibition, licensing, merchandising and broadcasting rights to the Corinthians Paulista Soccer Club, a Sao Paolo team.

The assets acquired will be formed into a company called Corinthians Licenciamentos.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hicks Muse formed the partnership with Muller Sports, which is owned by Roberto Muller, in February. The New York-based consulting firm will manage any sports-related company acquired by Hicks Muse. The Corinthians deal is the first transaction for the partnership.

Roberto Muller began his sports-related career as a soccer player, eventually advancing to the Uruguay national team. His firm serves as an adviser to sports businesses and has offices in France, Spain, Argentina, Chile and Taiwan. Mr. Muller brought the partnership idea to Hicks Muse last December, according to Charles Tate, the president of Hicks Muse.

The Corinthians Paulista has a fan base of approximately 17 million people, and is Brazil’s most winning team of the 1990s, according to a Hicks Muse statement. Mr. Tate said his firm will try to build the Corinthians into a soccer franchise similar to the kind seen throughout Western Europe.

Hicks Muse made the investment out of Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Latin America Equity Partners, L.P., a buyout fund which closed on $950 million last year.

Mr. Tate said Hicks Muse hopes to acquire similar businesses throughout Latin America. He said it was too early to say what exit strategy would be used, but the possibilities include a sale to a strategic buyer, an initial public offering in the U.S. or Europe, or even an IPO in one of the Latin American countries. “Brazil, for all its problems over the years, has very well-developed domestic capital markets,” Mr. Tate said.

Hicks Muse may be able to leverage its existing investments in the region with future sports franchise deals-the firm already has a 33% stake in CEI Citicorp Holdings SA, which has partial control of broadcast rights to Argentinean soccer.

The partners of Hicks Muse, based in Dallas, already have personal money invested in sports-related assets through Southwest Sports Group, which owns the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars.