The acquisition comes at a time when the Chinese capital Beijing is widely expected to be awarded the right to stage the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, in a decision due later this year.

Infront's expertise may be extremely helpful in the effective commercial exploitation of this event and in realising Chinese ambitions to host other major international sports competitions, such as the FIFA World Cup.

Interestingly, Wang, one of China's richest individuals, commented specifically on how Infront was "best-positioned to actively support China in its bidding efforts for major sports events".

Only last week, the Zug-based company announced the acquisition of Referee Sportsmarketing, a Dutch agency with a particular specialism in speed skating, a Winter Olympic sport in which The Netherlands is currently a particularly dominant world superpower.

Today's acquisition of the well-known Swiss-based sports marketing company - which is headed by FIFA President Sepp Blatter's nephew Philippe - comes less than a month after Wanda bought a 20 per cent stake in Atlético Madrid, the overachieving Spanish football club.

Critically, Infront's senior management team, including Philippe Blatter who is President and chief executive, is to remain in place, with a long-term strategic plan said to have been agreed until 2020.

Philippe Blatter (fourth from left), President and chief executive of Infront Sports & Media, is to remain in his position despite the acquisition by Dalian Wanda Group ©Getty Images



The company now claims to have partnerships with 160 rights holders in 25 sports; in 2014, it generated revenues of more than €800 million (£590 million/$910 million). 

Blatter said Infront would "continue to grow our business across the board, both internationally as well as in China".

Wanda, he said, was "fully committed to actively contributing to Infront's ambitious growth plans and shares our long-term vision as well as our corporate values.

"Overall, we are convinced that the new and strengthened ownership structure will help to further enhance our service offering to benefit our valued partners and clients."

Wang, who is chairman of Wanda Group, said the acquisition would "significantly increase the future impact of the Wanda Group in the culture and entertainment industry and will also drive the development of the Chinese sports industry and its interest around the globe".

Wanda, he said, would also "be in a position to increase its influence in the global sports industry and help raise the level of competition in Chinese sports".

For Bridgepoint, Xavier Robert, a Paris-based partner, described Infront as "a scarce asset in its sector that has delivered a strong performance on the back of geographical expansion and a growing sports contract base to become a well-diversified premium sports marketing company".

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