BC Partners Credit, the credit arm of BC Partners, announced an initial committed investment in LIV Golf on Monday night, as the golf league restructures its business under a court-supervised process. The investment is the first part of a targeted $300 million in total financing from the investment firm to back LIV’s next iteration.
“Our goal is to facilitate LIV Golf’s emergence from the restructuring process on sound financial footing and with renewed momentum heading into the 2027 season,” Ted Goldthorpe, head of BC Partners Credit, said in a statement. “Just as importantly, we want the players who make this league what it is to share in what they help build.”
LIV filed for bankruptcy last month after it signed a term sheet with BC for a proposed transaction that would recapitalize the tour’s business and shift majority ownership to its players. Goldthorpe said that giving players ownership “aligns everyone around the long-term success of the product.” As part of the bankruptcy process, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) agreed to provide a $49.6 million debtor-in-possession loan and exit the tour as a backer.
The term sheet required LIV to sign half of the players to whom it owes money. Those players also must collectively represent two-thirds of the money owed to golfers. The two parties have an Amended Restructuring Support Agreement (RSA) for its investment that extends the player deadline to Oct. 25.
The bankruptcy filing showed LIV Golf owed more than $64 million to its top 27 creditors. About $45 million of that sum is due to current and former players, with Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau topping the list at $7.5 million and $5.8 million, respectively. Those figures only include what is already owed to the golfers at the time of the bankruptcy and does not include future obligations.
A bankruptcy hearing is scheduled for Oct. 14, when the bankruptcy court can approve the Amended RSA and financing from BC Partners.
In April, PIF pulled funding for the league after investing $5 billion since its 2022 launch. The move led to LIV cancelling its New Orleans and Michigan events. It laid off most of its staff in August, after its season-ending event in Indianapolis.
LIV Golf retained investment bank Ducera Partners to run a process to help LIV raise $250 million to $350 million to continue operations beyond 2026, according to a pitch deck viewed by Sportico. It envisioned a 10-event annual schedule, with pared-down purses.