Football media business acquires Middle East digital sports publisher Kooora
Ropes & Gray has advised alternative asset manager TPG and its portfolio company Footballco – a football-focused content and media business – on the acquisition of Kooora, a Middle East digital sports publisher.
Footballco, which is backed by TPG and sports entertainment company DAZN, is home to more than 300 content creators and owns GOAL, the world’s largest football publisher, as well as community brands Mundial, INDIVISA, and NXGN, and web-video player FC player.
Its content is available in 16 countries. The purchase of Kooora – which comes ahead of an anticipated increase in demand for football content from viewers in the region in the runup to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar – follows its acquisition of the Italian football news website CalcioMercato in August 2021.
Kooora is published in Arabic and English and reaches an average of 25 million unique users a month and has a strong social media presence, especially across TikTok and Snapchat, which generate in excess of 17 million monthly video views.
The Ropes & Gray team was led by private equity partner John Newton (pictured), with associates Phoebe Glenister-So, Victoria Srivastava and George Taylor and trainees Gemma Dowling and Sienna Hewavidana, all based in London. Other members of the team included: data, privacy & cybersecurity partner Rohan Massey and associates Robert Lister and Robyn Annetts; and tax partner Andrew Howard and associate Benjamin Wonnacott, also all based in London.