British investment fund Lindsell Train has cut its stake in two marquee sports stocks once again, as a year-end regulatory filing shows the company has lowered its holdings in Manchester United and TKO Group.
The London-based fund manager said it now owns 10.5% of Manchester United, or 5.78 million shares, about half the number the firm held at its peak in mid-2020. At the same time, the company said it owns less than 5% of TKO Group Holdings, or 3.63 million shares, down from 5.9 million shares a year ago, in its first disclosure of investment fund holdings in TKO, which was formed by a merger of WWE and UFC in September 2023.
Lindsell Train disclosed the share levels in year-end ownership disclosures required by the SEC for stakes in U.S.-listed businesses. The fund manager has been steadily cutting its ownership in both companies in recent years. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fund managers Michael Lindsell and Nick Train spent years building up stakes in both the Red Devils and WWE, at one point owning about 20% of each entity. The duo has been well-regarded for its Warren Buffett-like approach to investing and a self-described “languid” trading style.
While the company hasn’t publicly discussed its sports investments in any detail, the selling has come on the heels of customer withdrawals of cash from Lindsell’s funds. As of September, Lindsell Train managed assets of £13.4 billion (about $17.8 billion at the time), down some 12% from springtime and steeply lower from its peak of £24.6 billion in June 2021 (about $34 billion), according to a report in Citywire, a U.K. investment news publication. The sharp decline in assets with Lindsell Train likely means the fund has had to sell to cash out its investors’ redemptions.
Still, in the case of Manchester United, they could just be cutting their losses. The revered English soccer club has been one of the worst performing sports stocks over the past year, losing 23% of its value as of Monday’s close at $16.28 a share. The team’s stock had been buoyed by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s $33 per share price to obtain a quarter of the club’s stock into February last year. After he acquired his intended stake, shares quickly lost dropped in price. Last year, Lindsell Train owned 11.1 million shares worth $226 million. Today, its stake is worth $94 million.
TKO, on the other hand, has been one of the best sports stocks of the past year, gaining 85% with Monday’s closing price of $142.38. That price makes Lindsell Train’s stake worth $482 million— $37 million greater than the start of 2024 when the fund held about 2.6 million more shares.
