Private equity firm Sixth Street Partners has acquired a “significant” equity stake in the San Francisco Giants baseball club, said a March 18 release.
Sixth Street’s investment will allow the Giants to invest for the future of the organization, including “continuing to elevate and expand the Giants’ commitment to delivering a best-in-class experience in and around Oracle Park,” the release said. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Larry Baer, president and CEO of the Giants, said in the release: “This new partnership allows us to further strengthen our franchise on the field and in the community,” adding that “this is our first significant investment in three decades.”
Alan Waxman, co-founder and CEO of Sixth Street, called the Giants “one of the winningest franchises in the history of professional sports.” The Giants have won eight World Series titles, second only to the St Louis Cardinals. In 2021, the Giants set a franchise record by winning 107 gaimes.
Since moving to Oracle Park in 2000, the Giants have won three World Series titles (in 2010, 2012 and 2014) and four National League pennants.
Based in San Francisco, Sixth Street manages over $100 billion of assets. Sixth Street owns stakes in various other sports clubs, including Bay Football Club of the National Women’s Soccer League; the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association, as well as professional Spanish soccer teams Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
The Giants were valued at about $3.8 billion as of March 2024, according to Forbes, making them the fifth most valuable baseball franchise, behind the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs.
The Giants’ principal owner is Greg Johnson, who also serves as executive chairman and chairman of the board of Franklin Resources Inc., an investment management firm with $1.6 trillion in assets under management.
Several other Major League Baseball clubs have sold stakes to private equity firms, For example, Arctos Sports Partners owns stakes in the Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, San Diego Padres, Houston Astros and the Red Sox.
Sixth Street couldn't be immediately reached for further details. The Giants declined to comment on the terms.
“Private equity expansion into professional sports continues, once again making its mark in professional baseball,” said Kyle Walters, a private equity analyst at PitchBook.
Walters noted that while this deal is not the first time the Giants took private equity capital, as Arctos currently holds a minority stake in the franchise, it is still a “meaningful deal that allows the franchise to make improvements to its stadium and the adjacent real estate surrounding it, a common theme seen in some of the recent private equity sports-related transactions, such as the NFL's Buffalo Bills minority deal with Arctos back in December.”
Moreover, this deal also expands Sixth Street's footprint in the sports world to complement its previous investments in the NBA, NSWL, and European football clubs.
“The growing valuations seen across the sports ecosystem, this time in major league baseball, continue to offer ownership groups the opportunity to capitalize on these constantly rising values by cashing out of a minority stake for numerous reasons, such as the stadium improvements. in this case,” Walters added.
