Although previously announced in November, today marks the first day of business under the new name and concludes the transaction for the management-supported buyout by a group of shareholders led by Robert Louis-Dreyfus, former head of adidas, and Jacobs AG, is now complete and the new ownership group is in place.
The company also has a new logo, different from the one used last November, when the new ownership was initially announced. This new logo is accompanied by a new corporate identity and better reflects plans for the future of the company as a full-service agency providing sophisticated, specialised services for clients in the world of sport.
The majority shareholders of the company are now Robert Louis-Dreyfus and Jacobs AG, with minority stakes held by Overlook Management B.V., Martin Steinmeyer and the Infront management team.
Properties now managed by the new Infront include the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the German football Bundesliga, IIHF World Championship in ice hockey; European Handball Championship and the German Football Association (DFB), as well as many European national football associations and clubs.
Said Infront CEO Oscar Frei: "We have managed to achieve a highly successful outcome and promising new start from an extremely difficult situation and we could not have done this without the steadfast support of our clients, some of whom have been working with us for more than 20 years."
In one of the first pieces of business concluded under the new name, French national broadcaster TF1 has acquired the exclusive broadcast rights in France for the next FIFA Confederations Cup, which takes place in France from June 18-29.
TF1 and EuroSport France will cover the 16 matches live, from three venues - Paris (Saint-Denis), Lyon and St-Etienne.
The agreement was signed between TF1 and Infront Sports & Media's subsidiary company, Infront WM AG, the rights holding entity for these important FIFA broadcast rights. TF1 will also be responsible for producing the television coverage for the event, in close co-ordination with Host Broadcast Services (also an Infront subsidiary).
