U.S. Consortium Buys Majority Stake in South African Rugby Team

New York-based MVM Holdings LLC became the first U.S. company to invest in South African rugby when it took a majority stake in The Sharks franchise.

MVM, an investment consortium headed by lawyer Marco Masotti, entered into an agreement to purchase 51% of The Sharks, based in the Indian Ocean city of Durban, the KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union said in a statement on its website on Thursday. The union and Supersport International will retain the remaining 49%, according to the statement, which didn’t give details on the terms of the deal.

The Sharks won South Africa’s provincial championship three times ...