China’s Wanda Group and China Media Capital (CMC) are reportedly eyeing the stake of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), ESPN reports.
As ESPN Senior Writer Darren Rovell puts, “the owners of the UFC are in advanced talks to sell the business” and “at least four bidders are believed to have submitted bids for the organization, including WME/IMG, China Media Capital, The Blackstone Group and Dalian Wanda Group”.
It, as expected, will possibly take one of the bidders $3.5-4 billion to seal the deal. Wanda Group, owned by Wang Jianlin, is reported to be in the leading position in the takeover deal. The company has been a massive spender in sports properties over the recent years, with the massive Infront Media and WTC Ironman deals.
Another bidder from China is an investment company CMC, which won the media rights to the Chinese Super League and bought a 13 percent stake of City Football Group.
Source: ESPN