Chinese investment group buys Ironman events ser - sportstextiles: Lea SportsTextiles

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Chinese investment group buys Ironman events series

08/09/2015
Reuters, the Financial Times and other media have reported that Dalian Wanda Group, headed by China's richest person, Wang Jianlin, has acquired the company that organises the Ironman triathlon series for a price that some have put at $900 million, including debt that the new owner is taking on.

World Triathlon Corp, which organises the events, was owned by US investment fund Providence Equity Partners. Mr Wang said one of his hopes is to “market this global extreme, endurance sport in China”.

Ironman athletes have to swim 4 kilometres, cycle 180 kilometres and run a marathon (42.2 kilometres) in less than 17 hours. Reuters said Wanda plans to hold as many as three races in China next year and increase Chinese participants to 200,000 over the next decade from current levels of 100.

At the moment, the series includes 200 events in 27 countries and has nearly 250,000 registered athletes.



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