London-based fund manager Lindsell Train has shown its confidence that the sports and entertainment sectors can bounce back from the Covid-19 pandemic, buying $90m of stock in the sectors in the second quarter of this year.

The firm, which was founded by Nick Train and Michael Lindsell and manages over £21.7bn (€24.4bn/$28.9bn), has increased its shareholdings in ESPN operator Disney, English Premier League Club Manchester United and scripted fight promotion World Wrestling Entertainment, according to the Financial Times.

US regulatory filings reveal the fund now has a $689.9m (€581m) stake in Disney, $427m in WWE stock and $182.6m in New-York listed Manchester United shares.

The money manager is also reported to have acquired a $1.4m stake in sportswear manufacturer Nike and recently started a position in Madison Square Garden Sports, parent company to National Basketball Association team the New York Nicks and National Hockey League side The New York Rangers, worth $485m.

Co-founder Train emphasised his confidence the sectors would stage a recovery in the long-term in a letter to investors in August, saying: “Clubbing, Disney theme parks, business deals signed at exhibitions, luxury shopping and, yes, attending live football matches will all come again. Because it is human nature.”

Lindsell Train first began investing in Manchester United in 2017 and counts itself as one of the two biggest investors in the club having acquired its shares directly from the Glazer family. Outside of this, the fund holds a close to 20-per-cent share of Scottish Premiership champions Celtic and a 11.3-per-cent stake in Juventus, which make it the second-biggest investor in the Serie A champions outside of the Agnelli family.

That means the fund will be taking a close interest in reports that Serie A is weighing up six to eight bids investment and financing bids from private equity firms with a view to increasing its commercial performance.

In 2011, Lindsell Train argued Juventus would be “at the forefront” if the league managed to increase its international appeal.

Juventus and Manchester United are among a handful of football clubs that are publicly listed. In an interview with SportBusiness in March, Luis García Álvarez, whose MAPFRE AM asset management fund is one of the largest investors in listed football clubs, argued that football stocks are ‘undervalued’ and expressed his belief the industry would soon rebound from the pandemic.

“When you invest in football, you need to know that these times are psychologically tough – you’re going to face short-term volatility,” he said. “You see the prices fluctuating every single day.

“It’s always more comfortable to invest in something that everyone thinks is a good thing than to invest in something that no one else is doing. But I think football is such a big opportunity precisely because it’s psychologically tough.”

Similarly, Adam Sommerfeld, head of sports investments at Certus Capital Partners, who describes his client base as a ‘who’s who’ of private equity players, NBA and MLS owners, ultra-high-net worth individuals and media firms, described how investors were increasingly looking for preferred shareholdings in the leading European clubs during the crisis in an interview in May.

“These are seasoned sports investors who are looking for positions in football which they can grow as the market returns, without engaging in full buy outs,” he told SportBusiness.

“Yes, they’re kind of sceptical on revenue hits with Covid, but they also see it as a kind of [Warren] Buffett or [George] Soros-type approach where you need to almost bet against the market – just as things are going down, that’s the best time to come in.”