New Zealand Rugby has finally agreed on terms of injecting the money that has been redundant, shaking hands with the players’ union to sell small shares to Silver Lake private companies.
The NZR board announced the agreement on Thursday morning, which will see the US company invest an initial $ NZ200m ($ A186m) to own 5.71% of NZR commercial weapons.
The deal comes after months of heated debate, with players blocking previous All Blacks’ secret patrols, which have been fully owned by the public.
The National Athletics Union (NZRPA) opposed an agreement announced last April that would see Silver Lake take 12.5% of the $ NZ387.5m ($ A360m), instead raising a public contribution of 5%.
Under the new agreement, NZR insists it will maintain “full control” of its rugby and trade strategies, so that Silver Lake remains a minority investor.
NZR chairman Stewart Mitchell said the sponsorship “marks the beginning of a transition phase in every game” in New Zealand.
“The journey to get here was not always easy,” Mitchell said. “There has been a healthy debate and some adjustment by all the teams, but always with the beauty of the game at the heart of this program … we are proud of where we have come from in this relationship.”
Silver Lake owns more than $ US90bn ($ A125bn) in consolidated international assets, including many types of sports.
It has contributed to the New York Knicks netball team, the New York Rangers ice hockey team, English Premier League giants Manchester City and parent company City Football Group, and the A-Leagues recently used the APL.
It took a 33% stake in the A-Leagues last December in a deal worth $ A140m in Australian football.
The NZR agreement is not over yet as the NZ provincial unions and the Maori rugby board still need to agree. Negotiations at Rugby House in Wellington with the unions continued on Thursday, with chief executive Mark Robinson applauding the good investment climate.
“There is a win in this proposal in every game for everyone,” Robinson said. “It means we can invest in all areas of the game [but] it will not change overnight. This does not mean that there will always be negative consequences in every game. ”
Negotiations between the NZR and the NZRPA also revealed a new collective agreement, the details of which have yet to be shared.
NZR will restructure its operations to make the agreement work, incorporating all its revenue assets into a new commercial enterprise Silver Lake in which it will invest.
The Silver Lake share has the potential to grow to 8.58% with another investment of $ NZ100m ($ A93m). The investment successfully made NZR at $ NZ3.5bn ($ A3.25bn).
NZR, NZRPA and Silver Lake will also build an international rugby investment vehicle called “World Rugby Opportunity” as part of the deal.