Cavendish Corporate Finance advises on sale of Hawk-Eye Innovations Ltd

Published March 08, 2011

Cavendish is pleased to announce the sale of Hawk-Eye, one of the world's best-known and most credible sports technology providers, to Sony. The sale price has not been disclosed. Hawk-Eye will be integrated into Sony Professional Solutions which supplies cameras and production equipment to broadcasters and sports venues.

Hawk-Eye was founded by Dr Paul Hawkins to provide a ball-tracking and graphics solution to enhance the broadcasting of cricket starting in 2001 followed by tennis in 2002. It was acquired by Mark Getty in 2006 and has since experienced strong growth as more and more events have adopted Hawk-Eye.

Hawk-Eye's reputation for accuracy, speed and entertainment is now unparalleled among governing bodies, broadcasters, sponsors, players and spectators. Its technology is now embedded in the playing of sports at the highest level (used for officiating in tennis since 2005 and cricket since 2009).

Hawk-Eye remains at the forefront of the adoption of technology in sports; developing solutions for football, snooker and coaching academies. Its Pulse Innovations venture empowers broadcasters to engage viewers more fully through parallel interaction online.

Cavendish was appointed by Mark Getty to sell Hawk-Eye in the summer of 2010 and marketing began in September. The sale process was run on a global basis through seamless co-operation with our alliance partners in M&A International. Offers were received from a number of multi-billion dollar corporations with Sony emerging as the preferred bidder.

Paul Hawkins, the founder of Hawk-Eye, said ''Over the last decade Hawk-Eye has become the reference standard technology for ball tracking and graphics in tennis, cricket and snooker. Our skills and established knowledge coupled with Sony's breadth of capabilities and technologies will create immense opportunities for the sports industry.

Cavendish played a crucial role both in achieving a good result for shareholders and in enabling Hawk-Eye to go to the buyer offering the most compelling strategic fit''.