Dodgers-Nets parent companies uniting unlikely

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 09 Oktober 2014 | 17.08

The parent companies of the LA Dodgers and the Brooklyn Nets will not be getting hitched after all, The Post has learned.

Although the two sides held talks recently, they have broken down and are unlikely to begin again, sources tell The Post.

"Guggenheim doesn't have money," a source close to the situation said. "Will a deal ever happen? Probably no."

Just a week ago, news of a possible combination of the Nets and Dodgers — reuniting the Dodgers' name, albeit only on a corporate level, with its original home town — created quite a stir.

Executives of Guggenheim Baseball Partners, which bought the Dodgers for $2.15 billion in 2012, flew to Russia to meet with Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov to discuss a "combination of assets," sources told The Post.

The combination would have included Barclays Center, the 2-year-old arena —which is majority owned by Bruce Ratner — where the Nets play.

Despite reports that Guggenheim's Todd Boehly flew to Russia to discuss such a deal, a spokesman for the company said Wednesday, "There has never been a proposal, never been a deal to walk away from. None was presented. None was ever seen. [Dodgers CEO] Mark Walter just told me he was never interested."

Only a week ago, Walter told The Post before a Dodgers playoff game he was hopeful there would be a merger but he had not seen financial data on the Nets or Barclays.

The Guggenheim spokesman rejected any contention that a lack of funds would have affected any talks.

Prokhorov still wants to sell some of his 80 percent stake in the Nets — and Ratner wishes to unload his 55 percent Barclays stake, sources said.

The talks about combining assets would have allowed Prokhorov and Ratner to remove some cash from the deal.

"The challenge is they want someone to pay a premium price and not take control,"
the source said.

The Russian billionaire bought the Nets in 2010 for $223 million.

The Nets believe they are worth $1.8 billion, close to what ex-Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer paid earlier this year for the LA Clippers, one source said.

Meanwhile, Guggenheim borrowed $1.2 billion from its parent, a large owner of annuity funds, to buy the Dodgers.

Those loans are secured by the money Time Warner Cable is paying to broadcast Dodgers games on a new Dodgers channel.

News of the Guggenheim-Prokhorov discussions was first reported by NetsDaily, a Web site owned by Vox Media's SB Nation.

Barclays and the Nets declined to comment.


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