 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | September 2009; 16 years ago (2009-09) |
| Founders | Joseph Ravitch Jeffrey Sine |
| Headquarters | Park Avenue Tower,New York, U.S. |
| Products | Investment banking Merchant banking |
| AUM | US$3.8 billion (2023) |
Number of employees | 175 (2023)[1] |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references [2] | |
The Raine Group, commonly referred to asRaine, is a globalmerchant bank focused exclusively on industries related to technology, media and telecommunications (TMT). Companies the firm has been involved with significantly includeEndeavor,SoftBank Group,WWE andUltimate Fighting Championship. It has also been involved with severalPremier Leaguefootball clubs.
Outside the U.S., the firm has offices in Europe and Asia.
In September 2009, Raine was co-founded by Joseph Ravitch and Jeffrey Sine. Ravitch was previously co-head ofGoldman Sachs' media banking division while Sine was Vice Chairman and head of TMT banking atUBS. It was compared to the early formation of theQuadrangle Group which also had a TMT focus. The firm's name Raine comes from an amalgamation of Ravitch's and Sine's surnames with the "e" on the end coming fromAri Emanuel, an initial backer who headedWilliam Morris Endeavor. One of Raine's first major deals was advisingWilliam Morris Agency on its merger withEndeavor Talent Agency to form William Morris Endeavor.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
In March 2010,Mubadala Investment Company acquired a 9% stake of Raine. Raine would also enter an exclusive relationships with William Morris Endeavor andTheodore J. Forstmann as investors.[5][6]SoftBank Group also holds a small stake of Raine.[9]
In April 2023, Raine acquired Code Advisors, a San Francisco-basedboutique investment bank that also focuses on TMT. It was done as the two had already worked together on a number of deals for the same clients.[10]
Sources state that Sine is more active on the advisory side while Ravitch is more active on the investment side.[7]
Raine provides investment banking advisory services to companies in the TMT sector. Its business model followsAllen & Company where its deal-making contacts would give it exclusive access to prospective investments. Raine does not make many pitches for new business and instead prefers to focus on existing clients for repeat business.[3][4][8]
Notable deals it has worked on include:
In September 2010, Raine released a letter to its investors that it had raised more than $300 million for its firstprivate equity fund that would focus on investing in media companies. Its backers included William Morris Endeavor, Forstmann,Masayoshi Son andsovereign wealth funds ofChina,Singapore andAbu Dhabi.[3][5] By April 2011, the fund had raised close to $500 million with additional backers that includedWPP plc,Frank andLorenzo Fertitta,Eric Schmidt,Sean Parker,Terry Semel,Richard Rosenblatt andMarc Andreessen.[11]
Notable investments that Raine has made includeVice Media,DraftKings,Jagex andSoundCloud.[4][8][10][12]
