Staple Street Capital Group LLC, the small buyout agency that owns Dominion Voting Systems, has scored a $US787.5 million ($A1.2 billion) windfall after Fox Corp settled a defamation lawsuit introduced by the voting machine operator.
The New York-based personal fairness agency stands to earn a return that dwarfs the $US38.3 million ($A56.9 million) it paid in 2018 to amass a 76.2 per cent stake in Dominion.
The $US787.5 million ($A1.2 billion) Dominion will obtain from Fox within the settlement – which additionally comes with an acknowledgement of a courtroom ruling from its cable channel Fox News that it aired false claims about Dominion machines facilitating fraud within the 2020 US election – is about half the $US1.6 billion ($A2.4 billion) in damages it was searching for in its defamation lawsuit.
Excluding any taxes or charges paid to attorneys, the $US787.5 million ($A1.2 billion) is 20 instances what Staple Street paid for the corporate.
Even earlier than Tuesday’s settlement, Staple Street’s funding in Dominion had paid off handsomely.
Fox mentioned in a courtroom submitting that Dominion was valued at about $US226 million ($A336 million) within the run-up to the 2020 election, citing displays it didn’t make public.
That was up from the $US80 million ($A119 million) valuation the acquisition of Dominion was clinched in 2018.
Staple Street, which in line with its web site has $US900 million ($A1.3 billion) in property below administration, and Dominion didn’t reply to questions on the revenue that the personal fairness agency stands to earn.
Investors within the $US265 million ($A394 million) personal fairness fund that Staple Street was utilizing for investments when it acquired Dominion embrace the University of Arizona’s endowment, Travelers Insurance and fund-of-funds supervisor Hauser Private Equity, in line with information supplier Pitchbook.
The buyers didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Founded in 2009 by Stephen Owens, a former Carlyle Group Inc dealmaker and Hootan Yaghoobzadeh, a Cerberus Capital Management veteran, Staples Street invests in corporations in a spread of sectors, together with monetary companies, well being care and chemical compounds.
Yaghoobzadeh instructed reporters on Tuesday that Staple Street backed Dominion in its mission to shoot down lies in opposition to it.
“We are proud to have played whatever part we could in helping Dominion achieve these important goals,” he mentioned.
Staple Street’s earlier investments embrace theme park operator Six Flags Entertainment Corp and knowledge know-how companies supplier Cyberlink ASP Technology Inc, in line with its web site.
In one of many courtroom filings, Fox cited a December 2020 textual content from a former Staple Street worker to a present govt that proved prescient.
“Would be pretty unreal if you guys like 20x’ed your Dominion investment with these lawsuits,” the textual content learn.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
