Caa Acquires Icm Partners To Form New Agency
Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has reached a definitive agreement to acquire ICM Partners.
The deal will see two of Hollywood’s top four talent agencies combining, and it will be the biggest joining forces of two major agencies since WME, along with private equity firm Silver Lake, acquired IMG for 2.4 billion dollars at the end of 2013.
Both CAA and ICM Partners also have a sizable presence in sports and sports media. Top clients for CAA Sports include English footballers of Kyle Walker, Dele Alli, James Maddison, Fran Kirby, Carly Telford, among many others.
ICM Partners, meanwhile, represents a wide array of NFL players, and it has bulked up its activities in sport substantially over the past year with the acquisitions of the UK’s Stellar Group and the NFL-focused Select Sports Group.
The two parties said the combination of CAA and ICM will ‘create deeper, broader, and more competitive opportunities for clients in the ever-evolving entertainment, media, and sports landscapes’.
CAA’s sports division has been diversifying its portfolio of clients over the past two years. In July 2020, CAA Sports acquired the London-headquartered Base Soccer Agency, which represents around 300 international football players, coaches and managers globally.
Meanwhile, ICM expanded into sport in October 2020 after purchasing London-based football representation giant Stellar Group, which currently represents more than 800 athletes across multiple sports.
“The strategic combination of CAA and ICM bolsters our collective resources, expertise, and relationships to deliver even more opportunities for our world-class clients to build their careers and their brands across multiple disciplines and platforms in an evolving marketplace,” said CAA’s senior leadership trio of Bryan Lourd (pictured), Kevin Huvane, and Richard Lovett in a statement.
Financial terms of CAA’s deal for sports and entertainment agency ICM have not been disclosed. The purchase is expected to close later this year.
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