Bardoc lines up investors for shot at NZ Breakers
Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Aug 20, 2023 – 6.42pm
The New Zealand Breakers – the privately owned, Auckland-based club – appears to be on the radar of investors as the team goes toe-to-toe with the Sydney Kings for the top spot in the National Basketball League.
Street Talk understands a handful of local investors have fielded recent approaches from Bardoc Group, a United Kingdom-based firm. Bardoc has been gauging their appetite to buy a stake in the NZ Breakers, sources said.
It is not clear if Bardoc was working for a NZ Breakers shareholder looking for an exit, or simply testing buyer appetite to then try and shake out a deal. Its outreach comes after Tesla chair Robyn Denholm bought a stake in the Kings this year. The Kings finished the last financial year at top of the league tables, tailed by NZ Breakers on the second rank. Naturally, the M&A interest in the best club has spilled over to the second-best.
When reached for a comment, the Breakers’ majority shareholder, Matthew Walsh – an NBA player turned sports investor – said he was unaware of anyone on the register appointing Bardoc. “Like any good sports owner, I have a duty to myself and to my shareholders to be commercial. But I love owning the Breakers and, given the amazing growth of the NBL, I am looking forward to the next five years of ownership,” Walsh said.
The Breakers have been around since 2003 and is the only team outside of Australia to play in the NBL. Walsh put together a consortium to buy the team in 2018 from the Paul and Liz Blackwell, who made their money in supermarkets.
For the past five years, the club has been tightly held. Sources said it was set up as a partnership, with Walsh as the general partner holding the first right of refusal from fellow shareholders who are limited partners. Sources said the business could be worth as much as $US30 million ($47 million) to $US45 million – but that is yet to be tested pending a sell-down.
It’s an interesting time to be an NBL investor. While clearly a second-tier league that is dwarfed by the bright lights of the National Basket Association in the United States, the NBL is a popular destination for investors. That’s because it’s a much smaller equity cheque than the NBA, still in the English-speaking world and a springboard for players globally.
Phoenix Suns sold for $US4 billion last year, while Michael Jordan last month chipped off his majority stake in Charlotte Hornets for $US3 billion.
