IMG, the sports and celebrity management group that represents such star names as Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher and Elizabeth Hurley has been sold, it announced on Thursday.
International Management Group said it had signed a deal with New York investment firm Forstmann Little and Co Industry sources said the deal was worth almost 700 million dollars.
IMG is a billion-dollar-a-year business that represents a string of top sports, modelling, music, broadcasting and entertainment personalities.
The client list ranges from established names like American golfer Woods, Germany's multiple Formula One champion Schumacher and British actress and model Hurley to new tennis star Maria Sharapova and Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen.