Professional golf tour LIV Golf Incorporated on Sept. 8 filed for Chapter 11 in bankruptcy court in New Jersey, the company announced, saying that it had entered into a restructuring support agreement (RSA) with BC Partners Advisors LP, the credit business of BC Partners, “which is intended to preserve the company’s business as a going concern through an innovative player-first ownership model.”
The company is seeking recognition of the proceedings in England and Wales in order to protect its international operations.
BC Partners is a private equity firm based in London. The total new investment in LIV Golf will be $300 million, with $150 million provided by BC Partners and the remainder offered to “other investors mutually acceptable to BC Partners and the company,” court filings show.
The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) has agreed to provide $49.6 million in debtor-in-possession financing (DIP) to the company.
Under the proposed transaction, the reorganized company is expected to be majority owned by players, LIV Golf said, “creating an ownership structure aligning players’ interests with the league’s long-term success.”
The company said that the reorganized league, dubbed LIV 2.0, is expected to hold events across five continents. It will expand its player field to 75 players, introduce a cut process for tournaments, and create additional pathways for players to earn their way into LIV Golf, including Monday qualifiers. LIV also said that more teams would “embrace national identities, building on the passion and momentum of World Cup-style competition.”
The filing is not a surprise. Analysts have been forecasting the company’s Chapter 11 filing for several months, since PIF withdrew its financial support from the golf league earlier this year.
According to the first-day declaration in the case filed by David Orlofsky of AlixPartners, who has been appointed as chief restructuring officer, LIV has generated about $5 billion of net operating losses since its launch.
“The path to profitability was always a long-term strategy,” Orlofsky said in the filing, noting that, despite the losses, “LIV Golf firmly believes that, with appropriate funding and a level playing field with its competitors, its existing operating model would have reached profitability within five to seven years, primarily through continued revenue growth across both the league and teams, which had increased significantly in 2025 and 2026.”
LIV launched in 2021, and with backing from PIF was able to lure a number of top-tier players, such as Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, and Brooks Koepka, away from the PGA Tour with promises of huge paydays. PIF is said to have spent more than $5 billion on the project before pulling the plug.
LIV’s launch and its poaching of big-name players, however, opened up a rift with the PGA Tour.
Koepka returned to the PGA Tour earlier this year under a special pathway established by the PGA for certain golfers, but Rahm, Johnson, and DeChambeau, who would have qualified under the program, remained with LIV Golf, and the PGA has said that it would not reopen the program.
Whether those and other players will remain with LIV Golf is not known. The company said it remains “in advanced discussions with” its players.
According to court filings, the RSA contains a milestone deadline requiring the company, BC Partners, PIF, “and a requisite number of players” to enter into an “acceptable RSA” within 35 days.
Filing details
The company’s Chapter 11 petition lists assets in a range of $100-500 million, and debts in a range of $500 million to $1 billion.
According to filings, the company owes about $495 million to PIF under a secured facility entered into in June.
Players dominate the company’s list of unsecured creditors, holding nine of the company’s ten largest claims. Rahm is listed as the company’s largest unsecured creditor, with a claim of about $7.5 million, while DeChambeau is second with a claim of roughly $5.8 million and Johnson third with a claim of about $5.5 million.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Cole Schotz are serving as LIV Golf’s co-legal counsel, Ducera Partners as its investment banker, and C Street Advisory Group as its strategic communications advisor.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Rimon PC are serving as co-legal counsel to BC Partners Credit.
The transaction
According to Orlofsky, LIV’s marketing process began in May with outreach to more than 300 potential investors. Of those, 104 signed NDAs, and about 30 “engaged in detailed diligence.”
At the bid deadline of July 22, LIV received two non-binding term sheets, with BC Partners ultimately prevailing.
The total investment in LIV will consist of a $127.5 million term loan that includes warrant coverage for the purchase of 5% of the reorganized company’s common stock at a price per share of $0.01, $147.5 million in senior preferred equity that includes warrant coverage for the purchase of 10% of the reorganized company’s common stock at the purchase price of $0.01, and $25 million in subordinated convertible preferred equity that will own 30% of the reorganized company on an as-converted basis.
Players are slated to receive 52.5% of the common equity, subject to adjustment and contingent on “providing mutual releases to all parties, and signing certain settlement agreements.”
Players will also receive signing bonuses in undetermined amounts, the return of certain NIL (name, image and likeness) rights, and aggregate ownership of 30% of the teams established in the new league.
The remaining 2.5% of equity is reserved for management.
Interest under the contemplated term loan is S+800, in cash or in kind, at LIV’s election, with a 2% Sofr floor.
The preferred shares will carry a PIK rate of 15% and a minimum MOIC of 1.2x, increasing by 0.2x per annum.
According to the RSA term sheet, BC Partners will provide $150 million of the total financing. “Other investors acceptable to BC Partners and the company” will be offered the opportunity to co-invest in a pro rata strip across the term loan, senior preferred equity, and subordinated convertible equity.
The DIP
According to court filings, the DIP provides $49.6 million in new money, $14 million of which will be available upon interim approval of the facility, along with the rollup of $49.6 million of prepetition term loan obligations held by PIF on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
Interest under the DIP is 12%, paid in kind.
The DIP does not carry any fees.
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