New investment for France SailGP Team

Ares Sports, Media, and Entertainment funds (“Ares”) has acquired a minority stake in the France SailGP Team, joining a consortium of investors in the team, including international football superstar Kylian Mbappé.

A leading global alternative investment manager, Ares Management has an extensive track record in sports, media and entertainment investment. Its investment in the France SailGP team expands its existing portfolio of professional sports team investments, which includes Inter Miami CF, McLaren Racing and Atlético de Madrid.

“The investment in our French team by an organization with a stellar portfolio of first-rate sports properties underlines the strength of SailGP’s global league model and reinforces the commercial potential of our teams,” said SailGP managing director Andrew Thompson.

“Ares brings both institutional capital and deep strategic insights – they’ll be a highly-valuable collaborator in growing the French team and the Rolex SailGP Championship more broadly.”

Jim Miller, Co-Lead of Ares’ Sports, Media and Entertainment strategy, added that “with the team’s expanding ecosystem of dedicated athletes, sponsors and fans, alongside Ares’ experience investing in premier global sports teams, we are eager to lend our capabilities as the team continues to build on its momentum.”

The news follows a string of recent high-profile acquisitions, including the sale of the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team to a consortium of investors and Italian sports industry leaders, and acquisition of the BONDS Flying Roos (Australia) by Hollywood moguls Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds.

Sportsology Capital Partners has also been introduced today as part of the French ownership group, alongside Ares and Mbappé’s Coalition Capital.

Led by French Olympian Quentin Delapierre, the France SailGP Team is operated by K-Challenge and supported by Accor, one of the world’s leading hospitality groups. The team sits sixth on Rolex SailGP 2025 Season standings, after a podium finish earlier this month in New York.

SailGP information – Portsmouth event – YouTube – Facebook

Season 5 Leaderboard (after 6 events)
1. Spain – Diego Botin, 46 points
2. Australia – Tom Slingsby, 45 points
3. New Zealand – Peter Burling, 44 points
4. Great Britain – Dylan Fletcher, 41 points
5. Canada – Giles Scott, 38 points
6. France – Quintin Delapierre, 36 points*
7. Switzerland – Sebastien Schneiter, 20 points
8. Denmark – Nicolai Sehested, 14 points**
9. Italy – Ruggero Tita, 13 points
10. Brazil – Martine Grael, 9 point**
11. Germany – Erik Heil, 0 points**
12. United States – Taylor Canfield, 0 points**
* France was awarded points for the first two events as their F50 was not available
**Teams receive season penalty points for incidents during practice or racing

Season 5 Schedule – 14 events *
2024
November 23-24 – Dubai, UAE

2025
January 18-19 – Auckland, New Zealand
February 8-9 – Sydney, Australia
March 15-16 – Los Angeles, USA
March 22-23 – San Francisco, USA
May 3-4 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
June 7-8 – New York City, USA
July 19-20 – Portsmouth, Great Britain
August 16-17 – Sassnitz, Germany
September 6-7 – Taranto, Italy
September 12-13 – Saint-Tropez, France
September 20-21 – Geneva, Switzerland
October 4-5 – Andalucía – Cádiz, Spain
November 7-8 – Middle East
November 29-30 – Grand Final – Abu Dhabi, UAE
* The season began with 14 events but Tranto was replaced with Saint-Tropez, while Rio and Middle East were cancelled though Rio may be rescheduled.

Format for Season 5:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• Five qualifying fleet races of approximately 15 minutes may be scheduled for each regatta.
• The top three teams from qualifying advance to a final race to be crowned event champion and earn the largest share of the prize purse (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $400,000.00 USD prize purse with winning team earning $200k at each event).
• The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race for the top three teams in the season standing with the winner claiming a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had $2 million USD prize).
• The top team on points ahead of the three-boat Championship Final will get a monetary award (amount not confirmed; Season 4 had a $350,000.00 prize).
• The league currently maintains control ownership of the teams based in Denmark, New Zealand, and Spain, though it’s actively in the process of selling the Spanish team.

For competition documents, click here.

Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing among national teams in some of the iconic harbors around the globe.

Source: SailGP