Parent of WWE and UFC buying Professional Bull Riders, On Location, IMG for $3.25B

The parent business of WWE and UFC is buying Professional Bull Riders, On Location, and IMG from Endeavor throng in an all-ownership deal valued at $3.25 billion.

The deal is part of Endeavor’s efforts to shed some of its assets as it looks to be taken private in a proposed deal with private ownership firm Silver Lake, which was announced in April. Ariel Emanuel, who serves as CEO of Endeavor, is also executive chair and CEO of TKO.

Professional Bull Riders is a bull riding league that has more than 200 annual live events, approximately 1.25 million fans, and reaches more than 285 million households in more than 65 territories. On Location is live occurrence business for more than 1,200 sporting events, such as the Super Bowl, Ryder Cup and NCAA Final Four. IMG is a distributor and producer of sports content, packages and sells media rights and brand partnerships, and provides consulting, digital services and occurrence management to clients such as the National Football League and National Hockey League.

Parent business TKO throng said Thursday that the purchase from Endeavor throng will complement its existing businesses as well as broaden its reach in the additional expense sports economy.

“PBR, On Location, and IMG are industry-leading assets that meaningfully enhance TKO’s capital collection and strengthen our position in additional expense sports globally,” TKO Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro said in a statement. “Within TKO, they will assist power the growth of our turnover streams and position us to capture even more upside from some of the most attractive parts of our sports ecosystem: media rights, live events, ticket sales, additional expense experiences, brand partnerships, and site fees.”

As part of the deal, Endeavor will receive about 26.14 million ordinary units of TKO Operating Co. and will subscribe for an equal number of shares of TKO’s Class B shares. Endeavor is expected to own approximately 59% of TKO, while TKO’s existing shareholders will own the remaining 41% upon completion of the deal.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year.

TKO throng also announced Thursday that its board has approved the repurchase of up to $2 billion of its ordinary ownership.

Shares of TKO throng Holdings Inc., based in Stamford, Conn., rose more than 1% before the opening bell.