Versant, the media company recently spun off from NBCUniversal, has sold the assets of SportsEngine to Playmetrics, part of a strategy to refine its holdings and focus more closely on different types of assets.
Financial terms of the transaction were not revealed,.
SportsEngine provides technology and services tied to team and tournament management of youth sports. Versant, which owns cable outlets including MS NOW, CNBC and USA, is honing in on properties related to business news and personal finance; political news and opinion; golf; and sports and genre entertainment.
Playmetrics provides operations management software for youth sports organizations.
“SportsEngine customers can expect the same great service they rely on today and will gain access to the full depth of technology offerings PlayMetrics has built. Our goal is singular and we won’t stop until we’ve achieved it: build the best platform for youth sports operators,” said Mike Doernberg, CEO of PlayMetrics, in a statement.
Versant executives signaled in March that they were interested in exploring alternatives for SportsEngine. “We see a lot of consolidation in youth sports market-wide, so we think it’s the right time for this review, but we haven’t made a decision yet. Just to be very clear, we like SportsEngine. It’s been a very good business for us,” said Versant CFO and COO Anand Kini=, during a recent investor call, noting that “we’re only going to pursue opportunities that genuinely maximize value for the long term.”
Ropes & Gray acted as legal counsel and LionTree Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor to PlayMetrics. Gibson Dunn acted as legal counsel and Lazard acted as exclusive financial advisor to Versant.
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