CAA Sells Majority Stake to Investment Firm Led by Luxury Mogul François-Henri Pinault

Alex Weprin
·4 min read
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CAA has a new majority owner.

The talent agency giant led by Bryan Lourd, Kevin Huvane and Richard Lovett has sold a majority stake to Artémis, the investment firm controlled by François-Henri Pinault, the CEO of fashion firm Kering and the billionaire scion of a French luxury goods fortune.

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CAA’s leadership team of Bryan Lourd, Kevin Huvane and Richard Lovett will remain in place, with all three men signing “long-term commitments to continue leading the agency.” Lourd is expected to be named CEO of the company under its new ownership. Jim Burtson will remain president.

CAA has been majority owned by TPG since 2014 (the private equity firm first took a 35 percent stake in the company in 2010). The sale is a big exit for TPG, which valued the talent agency at $1.1 billion when it acquired its majority stake.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though TPG was said to be seeking a valuation of about $7 billion. The sale comes just one year after CAA reshaped the talent agency landscape by acquiring ICM. The combined CAA and ICM was valued at the time at $5 billion.

Artémis will be acquiring TPG’s stake in the company, with Singapore-based global investment firm Temasek remaining a minority owner, and CMC Capital remaining a strategic partner. (Both Temasek and CMC Capital invested in CAA in 2017.)

Pinault (whose wife, Salma Hayek Pinault, is a CAA client) will keep the agency privately held. The other holdings of Artémis include Kering, the luxury goods group that owns Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen; the auction house Christie’s; a series of wine estates; and a contemporary art collection.

The majority stake sale of CAA marks the biggest acquisition in Hollywood’s representation space since WME unveiled a $2.4 billion bid for the fashion-focused IMG in 2013, a year after private equity firm Silver Lake Partners invested in the Ari Emanuel-run agency.

CAA’s rivals, however, haven’t been standing pat. Fellow “Big Three” agency UTA sold an equity stake to Investcorp and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board in 2018 and nabbed further private equity investment in 2022 to fuel significant growth, including a $125 million deal for strategic advisory firm MediaLink and the addition of U.K. literary and talent agency Curtis Brown Group and executive search and consulting firm James & Co.

And WME parent Endeavor, now a publicly traded company, is looking to steer the closing of a megadeal of mixed martial arts promotion UFC and wrestling giant WWE this month as it expands its footprint in the sports and entertainment space outside of representation.

CAA’s new owners bring the agency even closer to the luxury space where Pinault has a large presence. “Artémis is a strategic investor of the highest order, with global reach and resources across countless areas of our clients’ interests, a deeply sophisticated understanding of global brands and how to support their growth, and a passion for creativity and innovation that matches ours and that of our clients.  François-Henri Pinault and his remarkable team, led by Héloïse Temple-Boyer and Alban Greget, share our vision for a future of limitless new opportunities,” said CAA’s Lourd, Lovett, Huvane and Burtson in a joint statement. “We are enormously grateful to TPG for their strategic expertise, invaluable support, and friendship over 13 years. We enjoyed tremendous growth and success together and look forward to continuing to collaborate on projects ahead.”

“As a leader in its field with an outstanding management team, a crystal-clear focus on providing world-class service to world-class clients and a tremendous track record of growth, CAA has all the relevant characteristics to be part of the Artémis family, adding increased diversity, both in terms of geographical footprint and business activities, to our other assets,” added Pinault. “CAA’s exceptional insight, relationships, and access across key sectors, combined with their widely regarded level of collaboration and innovation, gives the company a formidable role in driving global opportunities for its diverse and culture-defining clients.  We look forward to supporting the agency’s very bright path ahead.”

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