No PE for Sportfive

Private equity firms reportedly are abandoning their efforts to acquire France-based sports marketing agency Sportfive SA, due to opposition from < ?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />France’s Football Authority. Interested firms had included Hellman & Friedman (teamed with WPP), Apollo, Cinven and Permira. Only strategic bidders remain. The deal is expected to be worth between 800 million and 1 billion euros. www.sportfive.com