BC Partners pulls out of LIV Golf rescue as liquidation nears

LIV Golf is heading toward liquidation after BC Partners withdrew a plan to finance the league's relaunch with up to $300 million, CNBC reported, citing the Associated Press. The league entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September after Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund said it would stop funding LIV after the 2026 season.

CNBC said a hearing in U.S. bankruptcy court is scheduled for Thursday and is expected to focus on the liquidation of the league's assets. The outcome of the hearing and the league's ultimate fate remain unclear. LIV Golf and BC Partners did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment.

BC Partners' plan would have made players majority owners of the reorganised league and featured a scaled-back schedule, but LIV lost prominent players including Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia as it sought commitments for the new venture. Only four players had publicly committed to LIV 2.0: Richard Bland, Cameron Tringale, Brendan Steele and Ben Campbell, according to Golf Digest.

Rahm said on Tuesday that uncertainty over the league's future and proposed changes to its format influenced his decision to leave: "There were too many unknowns at the time, and there's still quite a few." PIF had invested more than $5 billion in the league since it launched in 2022, according to the Chapter 11 filing.

What do these terms mean?

Chapter 11: A U.S. bankruptcy process that lets a company restructure its debts under court supervision instead of being liquidated immediately.

Liquidation: Selling a company's assets and converting them into cash to pay creditors, then ending its operations.

Public Investment Fund: Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, which invests in local and global assets on behalf of the state.