Though the Minnesota Twins are making progress in finding potential buyers, the Pohlad family remains firm in its desire for a $1.7 billion price tag, potentially extending the process.
A person briefed on the Twins’ pivot since Chicago billionaire Justin Ishbia abandoned his bid to buy the club in late January described the team’s headway as “good” and the potential backers as “high quality parties,” saying the groups included multiple anchor/lead investors.
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But with the Twins sticking to their asking price and concerns from interested parties about the team’s future revenues, the end game remains fluid more than 7 1/2 months after the Pohlads announced they would explore selling the team.
New York City-based capital market company Allen & Company is handling the sale of the club, which Carl Pohlad bought from Calvin Griffith for $44 million in 1984. In March, the Twins were estimated to be worth between $1.5 billion and $1.7 billion by Forbes and Sportico, respectively.
“There’s no deadline,” the source said Tuesday. “We’re dealing with multiple parties, and whoever gets to the finish line first will be the winning party. (The Pohlads are) prepared to wait until the right deal comes along.”
A winning bid could materialize at any time.
The team was confident enough in its worth in March to deem an interested party’s $1.5 billion valuation as a non-starter. Still, multiple people with knowledge of the sale process said potential buyers noted several concerns.
First and foremost is the potential for an MLB owners lockout after the 2026 season concludes, a disruption that would immediately impact revenue for a new owner. Those sources also noted the loss of broadcast revenue associated with the team moving on from FanDuel Network, to Twins TV, an MLB-based product, after its most recent contract expired.
Another concern: the $425 million-plus of debt accrued during the Pohlad’s tenure as owners, according to multiple people briefed on the sale process, which is one of the highest figures among MLB’s 30 teams.
Throughout the process, the Twins have had plenty of limited partners show interest in purchasing the club, a source briefed on the matter said. Limited partners can provide significant funding for some ownership groups but rarely have control over a club. Attracting anchors or lead investors, to front the smaller groups of investors, a requirement of any sale, is taking time.
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In January, one person involved in the process predicted the Twins would pick a winning bidder by Opening Day. Then Ishbia bolted for the Chicago White Sox, reportedly increasing his stake in the club from 5 percent to 35 percent.
“We sort of rebooted the process and a number of people came in that were sitting on the sidelines,” they said. “We’re making good progress with multiple interested parties. Everyone we’re talking with now has the capability of transacting without finding a money source. … Anyone who buys a baseball club today is doing it with the full knowledge that there’ll be a (collective bargaining agreement) negotiation in another year, with some uncertainty around what the outcome will be. They’re not buying it for what happens in the next two or three years. …
“You just never know how quickly it can play out. It could be very quick or it could take two or three months. It just depends on when someone gets through the right place and the right deal.”
— The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli contributed to this report.
(Photo: David Berding / Getty Images)
