Range Media Partners has secured a significant minority investment from a strategic investment group that includes Liberty Global, Wildcat Capital Management and family entertainment company Playground Productions, the company announced on Tuesday (April 23).
The investment will help fund growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions for Range, a diversified management company active in music, entertainment, sports and digital technology. It will also be used to strengthen the company's position in the US market, while scaling into new and existing international markets.
Launched in summer 2020, Range provides a full stack of shared services covering all areas of content production and commerce-based initiatives. Only last year, Range merged with the manufacturer Automatik. executed a growth strategy for Range Sports that included acquiring growth stage companies within media rights, athlete marketing and golf verticals. launched a music publishing division headed by former Hipgnosis Songs Fund executive Casey Robison; and opened an office in Nashville.
As part of the agreement, Rick Hess — founder/managing partner of Cobalt Capital and strategic advisor to Forest Road Acquisition Corp, which led the investor group — was appointed to serve on Range's board as a representative of Liberty Global and Wildcat Capital Management.
Previous Range investors include Point72 Ventures and A+E Networks.
Range's music clients including Jack Harlow, Saweetee, Cordae, Midland, Murda Beatz, Nova Wav, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Hailey Whitters, Lauv, MAX, HARV, Sean Douglas, Wondagurl, Yola, Pentaonix, Luke Grimes, Russell Goozessety, Ryan Bingham and Tanya Tucker.
“We founded Range with the express intention of creating a multi-vertical, full-service offering, one that extends beyond the traditional business of film and television representation, in order to catapult clients' careers and aspirations through the wider landscape of entertainment and media as well as through technology and diversified businesses,” he said Peter MicelliCEO of Range Media Partners, in a statement.
Micelli continued, “We saw the dynamic changes happening, our customers were feeling them through the ripple effect, and we wanted to be more aggressive in how we could capitalize on those changes accordingly.”
Scope Management Partner Jack Wigham added, “Liberty Global, one of the world's most respected industry leaders, along with Wildcat Capital Management and Playground Productions are ideal strategic partners for the next stage of Range's development. We were very conscious during this process, wanting to find leading partners who have a unique perspective on our industry and are as committed as we are to an innovative long-term strategy to unlock global value for our customers. We are honored to move into this transformational phase with Liberty Global, along with our other leading financial sponsors, at our side to continue to meaningfully diversify our business through investments and acquisitions.”
ACF Investment Bank briefed the investor group, with Greenberg Traurig acting as legal counsel. Cooley was legal counsel for Liberty while Range was represented by Jones Day.
