[外電] Red Sox Owner in Talks to Take Sports 已刪文
Red Sox Owner in Talks to Take Sports Holdings Public
https://reurl.cc/ygDbgq
Boston Red Sox owner John Henry is in talks to join with an investment
vehicle for an $8 billion deal that would take his famed sports holdings
public, according to people familiar with the matter.
The deal being discussed would merge Fenway Sports Group LLC, which also owns
English soccer team Liverpool Football Club, with RedBall Acquisition Corp.
RBAC 0.20% , the people said. RedBall is a so-called special purpose
acquisition company launched by private-equity firm RedBird Capital Partners
and Oakland Athletics executive Billy Beane.
RedBall, which raised $575 million in August to buy businesses in sports and
sports-related media and data analytics, plans to raise an additional $1
billion to purchase a stake that will total less than 25% in Fenway Sports
Group and value it at $8 billion including debt, some of the people said.
The talks are in the early innings and could still fall apart. Fenway’s
investors had a meeting recently to discuss the potential transaction, one of
the people said.
Also known as blank-check companies, SPACs effectively turn the traditional
model for initial public offerings on its head by raising money before they
develop a business. They use the proceeds to make an acquisition—usually
within a couple of years—that converts the target into a public company.
There has been an unexpected boom this year in blank-check deal making, which
has gone in and out of favor over the years, as an increasingly large stable
of startups and other private companies seek a more expeditious route to the
public markets and sponsors hunt for opportunities in the economic
dislocation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.Also known as blank-check companies, SPACs effectively turn the traditional
model for initial public offerings on its head by raising money before they
develop a business. They use the proceeds to make an acquisition—usually
within a couple of years—that converts the target into a public company.
There has been an unexpected boom this year in blank-check deal making, which
has gone in and out of favor over the years, as an increasingly large stable
of startups and other private companies seek a more expeditious route to the
public markets and sponsors hunt for opportunities in the economic
dislocation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr. Henry, who founded investment firm Henry & Co., bought the Red Sox in
2002 and also owns the Boston Globe newspaper. Fenway Sports owns two of the
most iconic teams in their respective leagues. The Red Sox, which have won
the World Series four times since 2004 after going without a championship for
86 years, regularly pack the stands at Fenway Park with their devoted fan
base. Liverpool sealed its first English league title in 30 years over the
summer and in 2019 won the prestigious UEFA Champions League to become
champions of Europe. The group also has a controlling stake of the New
England Sports Network, the regional sports network that airs Red Sox games,
and owns Fenway Park, the team’s stadium since 1912.
As a public company, Fenway could look to buy up more clubs in Europe, where
a number have been on the block, according to a person familiar with the
matter.
A publicly traded sports organization would be a relatively untested concept
in the U.S. Liberty Media Corp. owns the Atlanta Braves, but the baseball
team is a subsidiary of a much larger company. The NFL’s Green Bay Packers
is owned by shareholders who mostly consist of fans.
New York-based RedBird, run by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Gerry
Cardinale, made its first foray into European soccer in July by acquiring a
majority stake in Toulouse FC, a club in France’s second tier. Immediately
after the takeover, it installed a team president, Damien Comolli, who had
previously worked at Liverpool and is close to Mr. Beane, who is best known
for his analytics-driven approach as depicted in the book and movie, “
Moneyball.”
RedBall’s board includes former Premier League Executive Chairman Richard
Scudamore, during whose 20 years in charge English soccer turned into a
global export and a television-rights cash cow. Premier League matches air in
more than 190 countries every weekend of its 10-month season.
Because of the league’s reach, it’s not uncommon for top clubs to be valued
in the billions of dollars on the rare occasions they hit the market.
Manchester City set a new bar in 2019 after private-equity firm Silver Lake
purchased a $500 million stake that valued the club’s sprawling umbrella
group at $4.8 billion.
A deal for Fenway would be a significant endorsement of baseball, which has
been hit the hardest among major professional sports leagues by the
coronavirus pandemic because of its greater reliance on ticket revenue. Last
month, billionaire hedge-fund manager Steven A. Cohen reached an agreement to
purchase the New York Mets for just short of $2.5 billion, the most ever for
an American professional sports franchise. That deal is pending the approval
of the other baseball owners.
心得:
不知道各位有沒有在玩美股
我在財經新聞看到 Red Sox 的時候還以為我眼花
不過一切還在討論中就是
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