Walker Brumskine, Kyle Charters, Bobby Sharma and Jack Ross of Bluestone Equity Partners.
By Michael Weschler/Bluestone Equity Partners, New York City/Business Wire
Earlier IMG Executive Bobby Sharma is founding Bluestone Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on the global sports, media and entertainment industries.
The company announced Wednesday that it raised $300 million in its first round of growth equity to focus on established businesses and proven assets in the space. Sharma leads the company alongside former Inner Circle Sports executive Kyle Charters.
Sharma previously served as Global Head of Basketball and Strategic Initiatives at IMG, General Counsel for the NBA Development League, helping to establish the NBA’s first minor league, and Vice Chairman and CEO of Soccerex.
“We are proud to launch Bluestone Equity Partners and our first growth equity fund to capitalize, guide and grow high-quality assets in the sports, media and entertainment industries,” Sharma said.
“Bluestone’s investment philosophy is to partner with exceptional management teams, boards and investors who we believe can achieve extraordinary results. We have a clear strategy to invest in, develop and scale businesses and assets through a proven model that will Benefit from the advantages of our expertise and relationships in the sports, media and entertainment industry,” Charters said.
Sharma and Charters are also joined by Walker Brumskine, who will become head of the firm after working at Apollo Global Management, and Jack Ross, who will join as an associate after working at Blackstone.
It is at least the second private equity firm targeting entertainment to announce the closing of a funding round this month. Shamrock Capital, a Los Angeles-based firm focused on media, entertainment and communications, announced on Feb. 1 the closure of its third equity fund, exceeding its $600 million hard cap.