BILLIONAIRE PHIL Anschutz’s sports and entertainment business AEG is sparking interest from a range of media and private equity firms, including Liberty Media and Guggenheim Partners, in a deal that could fetch more than $6 billion.
Others possible suitors include Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital and Colony Capital, said sources.
Mr Anschutz, who is in his mid-70s, launched an auction of Anschutz Entertainment Group on Tuesday as he looks for a buyer to take on the company that owns some 100 entertainment venues globally and sports assets that include the Los Angeles Galaxy Major League Soccer team and a stake in the National Basketball Association’s Los Angeles Lakers.
Sources familiar with AEG’s assets said the company could fetch between $6 billion and $8 billion in a sale. One of the sources said AEG has asked for at least $7 billion. AEG president Tim Leiweke declined to confirm the price tag, but said a deal would be in the multi-billion-dollar range.
Another source familiar with the matter said that, as a private owner, Mr Anschutz was under no pressure to sell. He would sell AEG only as a fully-integrated platform and not in pieces, and would only sell it to a buyer with the resources and commitment to keep the platform as it was.
“The Dodgers were supposedly going to be sold for €1 billion,” said Mr Leiweke, referring to the $2 billion acquisition of the Los Angeles Major League baseball team by a Guggenheim Partners-led group earlier this year. – (Reuters)
