Sports marketing firm MP & Silva wound up, FAS $25m deal in limbo

Sports marketing firm dissolved by UK court after failing to pay FFT, several rights holders

Staff were still present at the MP & Silva Singapore office yesterday, but industry sources revealed that MPS Singapore president and group CEO Seamus O'Brien and MPS' Asia-Pacific managing director Wu Swee Sin had already left the organisation.
Staff were still present at the MP & Silva Singapore office yesterday, but industry sources revealed that MPS Singapore president and group CEO Seamus O'Brien and MPS' Asia-Pacific managing director Wu Swee Sin had already left the organisation. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
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Sports marketing agency MP & Silva (MPS) wrote itself into Singapore's sporting annals in 2015, signing what was the biggest commercial deal in local football history - a six-year, $25 million media rights contract with the Football Association of Singapore (FAS).

But the FAS may not receive the full amount of that deal, after the agency - majority-owned by Chinese companies Everbright and Baofeng - was wound up by the United Kingdom's High Court of Justice on Wednesday.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 19, 2018, with the headline Sports marketing firm MP & Silva wound up, FAS $25m deal in limbo. Subscribe