Pinault’s Artémis to buy majority stake in Hollywood talent agency CAA

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France’s billionaire Pinault family has agreed to buy a majority stake in Hollywood talent manager Creative Artists Agency from private equity firm TPG in the largest transaction ever for the family’s holding company, Artémis.

Details of the transaction were not disclosed, but Artémis, which has assets worth more than $40bn in its portfolio including a controlling stake in luxury group Kering, will take an approximately 53 per cent stake in CAA from TPG, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.

The talent agency has an enterprise value of $7bn including debt, the people said, and had sales, largely through commissions earned by agents on its artists and sports stars, of about $1.7bn in 2022. Artémis would pay a multiple of 13 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for its stake, one of the people said, and the acquisition would be financed using a mix of cash and debt.

The deal joins CAA and its roster of A-list stars with some of the biggest names in luxury.

The agency represents Hollywood royalty including Scarlett Johansson, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Steven Spielberg. Talent agencies depend on strong personal relationships between agents and their clients, and the CAA leadership team made “long-term commitments to continue leading” the agency, the companies said in a statement.

Bryan Lourd, a superagent who represents Pitt, George Clooney and Johansson, will be named chief executive of the group when the deal closes. Lourd, Kevin Huvane and Richard Lovett would continue leading the agency and remain co-chairmen, the companies said.

However, there was no lock-up on agents included in the deal, one of the people said, though most have non-compete clauses in their contracts.

“CAA’s exceptional insight, relationships, and access across key sectors, combined with their widely regarded . . . collaboration and innovation, gives the company a formidable role in driving global opportunities for its diverse and culture-defining clients,” said François-Henri Pinault, Artémis chief executive.

Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek, which is also a shareholder in the talent agency, would roll over shares and potentially add to its position, one of the people added.

“Artémis’ interest in CAA is about geographic diversification . . . for a portfolio that has been largely European. CAA is also decorrelated from luxury cycles, while still being in a business they understand that is focused on people and services,” one of the people said.

The transaction is a new chapter for the Pinault family’s holdings, which have largely focused on the luxury industry in the past decade. The family controls Kering, one of the world’s largest luxury group with brands including Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci, through Artémis.

TPG first invested in CAA in 2010, building a 35 per cent stake in the agency at a $700mn valuation, according to people familiar with the matter. Four years later it increased the investment, buying more shares for $225mn at a $1.1bn valuation to boost its ownership to a controlling 53 per cent.*

In 2021, it considered taking CAA public, but instead created a continuation fund that allowed it to move the investment out of an old fund raised in 2008 and hold on to it for longer.

The new fund, which included investors Goldman Sachs Asset Management, ICG and Neuberger Berman, also raised new cash for CAA to buy agency ICM Partners.

Pinault’s purchase will provide a large windfall to TPG and the continuation fund. TPG is selling its controlling stake in full.

TPG had been willing to hold CAA longer and had not hired advisers to lead a sale process, according to people familiar with the details. It was advised by law firm Ropes & Gray, while Artémis was advised by Rothschild.

*This article has been amended to correct details of TPG’s investments in CAA