SBJ: Fenway Sports Group takes stake in ANC / C10 Media

Sources said the stake was less than 10% and no cash was involved, so there was no subsequent valuation.

Under the deal, FSG will take a seat on C10's board, the holding company that owns venue signage specialist ANC and is headed by Jerry Cifarelli Jr., whose father started ANC in 1997. The younger Cifarelli began his sports career at FSG (then Fenway Sports Management) in 2011, so it represents a full circle move for him.

C10 has around 70 full-time corporate employees.

"We’ve been doing business with the them for so long, and more recently at our new MGM Music Hall [which is attached to Fenway Park]," notes Jonathan Gilula, Managing Director of FSG Real Estate and Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of the Boston Red Sox. "It just makes that relationship stronger. All those years with junior and senior Cifarelli served as the impetus for bringing our groups together even more. At a minimum, we're a great reference for them for perspective clients."

"We have a lot in common already. The expectation is that this is a step toward much more," said Jerry Cifarelli Jr., CEO of ANC and its holding company, C10 Media.

(Terry Lefton, SBJ)