Fanatics has received a $300 million investment from private equity firm Silver Lake, according to a report from Fortune. Silver Lake received a minority ownership stake in the fan gear retailer.
Fortune also noted that Fanatics raised $320 million in minority equity funding from Andreessen
Horowitz and Insight Venture Partners in 2012, and another $130 million
last year from Alibaba Group.
The Silver Lake investment is all for primary shares, meaning that existing Fanatics investors will hold onto their stock.
Fanatics is the largest retailers of officially licensed sports merchandise in the country. The company operates more than 300 online and offline stores, including the e-commerce business for all major professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, PGA), major media brands (NBC Sports, CBS Sports, FOX Sports) and more than 150 collegiate and professional team properties. The company’s in-venue and event retail portfolio includes the NBA, NHL, NASCAR, Texas Longhorns, LSU Tigers, Arizona Coyotes and New Jersey Devils, allowing fans to experience a seamless shopping experience across online, mobile and physical store locations.
Fanatics is controlled by Michael Rubin, the founder of GSI Commerce, a provider of e-commerce sales, fulfillment and marketing services that Rubin sold to EBay for $2.4 billion in 2011. Ebay announced last month that it had reached an agreement to sell EBay Enterprise, which includes the former GSI Commerce business, to a private equity firm for $925 million.
The complete Fortune article can be found here.
