In brief

• LIV Golf faces liquidation after BC Partners withdrew from a proposed $300 million rescue financing.
• The Saudi Public Investment Fund has invested more than $5 billion in the tour since 2022.
• Documents filed in New Jersey bankruptcy court show LIV plans to shut down operations and seek creditor protection.

Financing deal collapses

The private equity firm BC Partners has pulled out of a planned rescue package for LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed tour that broke away from the traditional circuits in 2022 (LIV Golf faces liquidation after BC Partners scraps rescue plan – CNBC). The proposed financing, valued at $300 million, fell apart after too few players committed to the project, according to reports.

Bankruptcy filing

Documents filed in a New Jersey bankruptcy court indicate LIV plans to shut down operations and seek protection from creditors (LIV Golf is headed toward bankruptcy barring a last-minute rescue – NBCNews.com). The company told the court it would wind down its business, with a hearing scheduled for Thursday (LIV Golf Is Shutting Down And Liquidating Assets – Forbes). It was not immediately clear how much the company owes its creditors.

Saudi funding ends

The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia has put more than $5 billion into LIV since 2022. Spanish daily El País reported that the fund had grown weary of injecting such sums without a financial return, strong television audiences or meaningful sporting impact, and that the BC Partners deal was the last lifeline for the tour (LIV, la Liga saudí que revolucionó el golf, desaparece – EL PAÍS).

Financial figures

• PIF investment since 2022: more than $5 billion
• Proposed BC Partners rescue plan: $300 million

Impact on players

The circuit was set up in 2021 by a group of golfers, with Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson among its leaders, after they became unhappy with the PGA Tour. It signed high-profile players such as Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson, offering guaranteed payouts in the millions. Its collapse would leave those players without a team-based league they had joined and reshape a golf landscape split since the breakaway.

What comes next

With the rescue plan gone and a bankruptcy process underway, the immediate question is how LIV's assets will be sold and which creditors will be paid. The bankruptcy court hearing is the next step in that process.