United Talent Agency Adds Strategic Investors Investcorp And Public Sector Pension Investment Board

– UTA

United Talent Agency gets another financial shot in the arm with the addition of Investcorp and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board as strategic investors in the company. The injection of capital is expected to enhance UTA’s services and provide continued capital funding for content creation, distribution and new innovation, according to the company

 The amount of the investments weren’t disclosed, but described by UTA as “minority stakes.” 

The agency has undergone tremendous growth in the last five years, doubling its staff to 900, expanding into a full-service company and acquiring assets including, most recently, Circle Talent Agency and The Agency Group in 2015.

The minority stakes by the two global investment firms will help accelerate that momentum and enable UTA to fund further resources.

In addition to the acquisition of Circle Talent, over the past year UTA has also added businesses in the live speaking, e-sports and gaming businesses and has taken an equity stake in Core, recently renamed Industrial Media, which last year successfully relaunched “American Idol.” 

Investcorp and PSP Investments join existing investor Jeffrey Ubben as UTA’s capital partners. Investcorp has more than $22 billion in assets under managment and more than 35 years’ experience investing globally across a divers range of industries, including retail and consumer products, business services, tech, real estate, industrials and more. PSP Investiments is one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers with assets under management of $119 billion invested across 75 industries and more than 100 countries.

UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer and co-Presidents David Kramer and Jay Sures led the process of choosing the new investors. Zimmer, who with UTA Chairman Jim Berkus and co-founder Peter Benedek, founded UTA 27 years ago, said in a statement: “This is a transformative event for UTA. There has never been a greater moment of change and opportunity in our industry for artists, creators and companies like ours.” 

Since 2014, UTA has positioned itself through acquisitions in the news and broadcast space (through its acquisition of N.S. Bienstock in 2014), music touring (The Agency Group), live speaking (Greater Talent Network in 2017), electronic music (Circle Talent Agency) and e-sports and gaming (this year, with PressX and Everyday Influencers). It has also expanded its presence in its Los Angeles headquarters and operates offices in New York, Nashville, London and Miami.

UTA’s partnership maintains majority ownership and control of the company.  The existing executive leadership team of Zimmer, Kramer and Sures, as well as Chief Operating Officer Andrew Thau will remain unchanged.