{"id":485689,"date":"2026-06-19T16:40:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T16:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/485689\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T16:40:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T16:40:06","slug":"sailgp-halifax-black-foils-majority-ownership-acquired-by-us-based-private-equity-firm-msp-sports-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/485689\/","title":{"rendered":"SailGP Halifax: Black Foils majority ownership acquired by US-based private equity firm MSP Sports Capital"},"content":{"rendered":"

SailGP and MSP Sports Capital did not disclose the total cost of acquiring the majority stake, but team valuations have grown to exceed US$60 million (NZ$104m) this year.<\/a><\/p>\n

The firm adds the New Zealand team<\/a> to a portfolio that includes the X Games and a host of European football teams such as Br\u00f8ndby IF (Denmark), FC Augsburg (Germany) and SK Beveren (Belgium).<\/p>\n

It has previously invested in English Premier League team Everton and the McLaren Formula One team, and now takes on one of SailGP\u2019s most successful teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s an incredibly important milestone for the Black Foils \u2013 and the start of an exciting new chapter for us in SailGP as we represent New Zealand on the world stage,\u201d Burling said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMSP are world-class partners, with an understanding of elite sport and what it takes to build something that lasts.\u201d <\/p>\n

The sale marks a new milestone for SailGP, with all teams in the fleet now having a majority owner.<\/p>\n

Other teams to have been acquired over the past year include Australia\u2019s Flying Roos, with an ownership group led by actors Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds, and Denmark\u2019s Rockwool Racing, purchased by American businessman Doug DeVos and American Magic for US$60m.<\/p>\n

The new ownership group is one of several changes for the Black Foils upon their return in Halifax this weekend.<\/p>\n

The team will sail their new boat, Manawat\u012bt\u012b, which was built after their F50 foiling catamaran Amokura was wrecked in a crash with France in Auckland, and will have a new team member on board: grinder Stewart Dodson replaces injured sailor Louis Sinclair for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n

They will also make some slight changes to their colours, with a new livery for the F50 and a bold red strip down the middle of their helmets.<\/p>\n

The colour on the helmets has been changed from blue to red as a safety measure, with the red being more visible in the water.<\/p>\n

The team launched their new F50 this week, to put the vessel through its paces before the regatta in Halifax.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was special to be back sailing as the Black Foils and to take Manawat\u012bt\u012b out for the first time. Whilst we still have work to do before this weekend, it was an important milestone in returning to racing,\u201d Burling said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will follow a process with each of our sailing windows between now and Saturday [Sunday NZT] to make sure we are ready. It was also great to give Stewart his first chance to be on board with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christopher Reive<\/a> joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SailGP and MSP Sports Capital did not disclose the total cost of acquiring the majority stake, but team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[44303,7022,3595,1288,1137,1138,32851,229926,14575,225,243719,111,139,69,3169,1136,32850,213,26021],"class_list":["post-485689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-acquired","tag-black","tag-by","tag-capital","tag-equity","tag-firm","tag-foils","tag-halifax","tag-majority","tag-market","tag-msp","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ownership","tag-private","tag-sailgp","tag-sports","tag-usbased"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}