Range Media Partners has secured a substantial minority investment from a strategic investment group encompassing Liberty Global, Wildcat Capital Management and family entertainment company Playground Productions, the company announced Tuesday (April 23).
The investment will help finance growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions for Range, a diversified management firm that operates across music, entertainment, sports and digital. It will also be used to bolster the company’s position in the U.S. market while scaling it in new and existing international markets.
Launched in the summer of 2020, Range provides a full stack of shared services encompassing all areas of content production and commerce-based initiatives. Over the past year alone, Range has merged with production company Automatik; executed a growth strategy for Range Sports that included acquiring growth-stage companies within the media rights, athlete marketing and golf verticals; launched a music publishing division led by former Hipgnosis Songs Fund executive Casey Robison; and opened a Nashville office.
Under the deal, Rick Hess — founder/managing partner of Cobalt Capital and a strategic advisor to Forest Road Acquisition Corp, which led the investor group — was appointed to serve on Range’s governing body as representative of Liberty Global and Wildcat Capital Management.
Previous Range investors include Point72 Ventures and A+E Networks.
Range’s music clients including Jack Harlow, Saweetee, Cordae, Midland, Murda Beatz, Nova Wav, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Hailey Whitters, Lauv, MAX, HARV, Sean Douglas, Wondagurl, Yola, Pentaonix, Luke Grimes, Russell Dickerson, Dylan Gossett, Shaboozey, Ryan Bingham and Tanya Tucker.
“We founded Range with the express intention to build a multi-vertical, full-service offering, one that extends beyond the traditional business of film & TV representation in order to catapult client careers and ambitions through the broader entertainment & media landscape as well as through technology and diversified ventures,” said Peter Micelli, CEO of Range Media Partners, in a statement.
Micelli continued, “We saw the dynamic changes happening, our clients were feeling them through the ripple effect, and we wanted to be more aggressive in how we could advantageously leverage those changes accordingly.”
Range managing partner Jack Whigham added, “Liberty Global, one of the most widely respected industry leaders worldwide, along with Wildcat Capital Management and Playground Productions are ideal strategic partners for Range’s next stage of growth. We have been very deliberate during this process, wanting to find top-tier, blue-chip partners who have a unique perspective on our industry and are as committed as we are to an innovative long-term strategy to unlock global value for our clients. We are honored to move into this transformative phase with Liberty Global, along with the other first-rate financial sponsors, at our side to continue to meaningfully diversify our business through investment & acquisition.”
ACF Investment Bank advised the investor group, with Greenberg Traurig serving as its legal counsel. Cooley was legal counsel for Liberty while Range was represented by Jones Day.
