| Morning all, Craig McGlashan here with the Europe Wire from the London newsroom. Sport was very much on my mind this weekend – whether it was being surrounded on the Tube by American football fans going to the London NFL game or following the top of the table clash between early pacesetters Aberdeen and Celtic in the Scottish Premiership. Scottish soccer clubs and others without the financial clout of the biggest teams could be particularly at risk from a European Court of Justice ruling on the legality of aspects of the game’s transfer system, with much of their revenue reliant on bringing through players and selling them on for a profit, including to clubs in the EU. But the ruling could also hit clubs in Europe’s biggest leagues – around a third of which have private equity backing. That was one of the takeaways from my deep dive this morning into how private equity might have to reappraise its soccer investments, in what one interviewee said could have as big an impact on soccer as the O’Bannon antitrust case has had on the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the US. The ECJ ruling might also be a topic at next year’s PEI NEXUS event in Orlando on March 10-12, which includes a Keynote Panel titled ‘Skin in the game – sports investing as the new frontier’ on the agenda. Ian Charles, managing partner at Arctos Partners, will lead that one. Elsewhere, we’ve got a big deal in education, with Neuberger Berman Private Markets, EQT and CPP Investments forming a consortium to acquire Nord Anglia Education. We then look at another chunky deal, this time in healthcare, where CD&R appears to have fended off competition to buy Sanofi’s Opella division, in a deal that shows some of the potential pitfalls of transatlantic private equity deals. Reappraisal Private equity’s fandom of the sports industry has led to some of the highest profile deals of the last few years – nowhere more so than in association football, or soccer. But a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice raises questions about the future of the game’s transfer system – whose value is one of the attractions for the flow of billions of private equity funds into the sport. Find out why, how PE might have to adjust valuations, why the ECJ decision has echoes of a US court ruling from 10 years ago and more in the premium version of the Wire. Lesson plan Just last month PE Hub’s Iris Dorbian wrote about how private equity is bullish on the education sector – and now we’ve got one of the biggest deals so far. Neuberger Berman Private Markets, EQT and CPP Investments have formed a consortium to acquire Nord Anglia Education. Details including the enterprise value are in the premium version of the Wire. Staying home The attraction of transatlantic private equity deals are something that we’ve looked into a lot on PE Hub, and not just in the world of sport. We also covered the topic in this interview with HarbourVest managing director Carolina Espinal. But these cross-ocean deals aren’t always plain sailing – particularly when politicians fret about homegrown champions moving abroad. For instance, CD&R this morning said it had entered exclusive negotiations to buy a 50 percent controlling stake in Opella, an over-the-counter and vitamins, minerals and supplements company, from Sanofi. The pair had already announced on October 11 that they were in talks. Find out how the deal was tweaked in the premium version of the Wire. Right, that’s it from me today. MK Flynn will bring you the US Wire later today and Nina Lindholm will be on Europe duty in the London morning tomorrow. Cheers, Craig Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ... | 