O’Melveny has advised The Friedkin Group on its acquisition of the controlling stake in the professional Italian Serie A football club AS Roma. The deal was first announced on 5 August, 2020 and closed on 17 August, 2020.
Romulus and Remus Investments LLC—a company designated by The Friedkin Group for the purpose of the acquisition—has acquired 100 per cent of the assets directly and indirectly owned by AS Roma SPV LLC, which includes approximately 86.6 per cent of the share capital of AS Roma SpA.
Headquartered in Houston, TX, The Friedkin Group is a privately held consortium of businesses and investments led by CEO and Chairman Dan Friedkin. The Group’s interests include Imperative Entertainment, the innovative entertainment studio behind the critically acclaimed films All the Money in the World, The Mule, and the upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon, as well as 30WEST and NEON, which distributed the Oscar-winning film Parasite. The Group also owns Gulf States Toyota, one of the world’s largest independent distributors of Toyota vehicles and parts.
AS Roma (Associazione Sportiva Roma) is a top-tier, Italian professional football club based in Rome and founded in 1927. AS Roma has won three Serie A league championships.
The O’Melveny team advising The Friedkin Group included lawyers from O’Melveny’s Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group, as well as O’Melveny’s Entertainment, Sports, & Media Practice Group.
Partners Sean Monroe and Irwin Raij led the O’Melveny team advising The Friedkin Group, with assistance from partners Luc Moritz, Robert Fisher, and Jeremy Maltby, and associates Nick Loukides, Chris Anderson, and Luisa Lizoain.
O’Melveny has more than a half-century’s experience advising a wide range of sports teams, leagues, and stakeholders. The firm has handled numerous billion-dollar acquisitions and dispositions of professional sports teams; cutting-edge media and licensing arrangements; stadium development, financings, and naming rights; sponsorships and endorsements; and strategic joint ventures.
