The Yankees are nearing a deal that would eventually hand a whopping 16% stake in the venerable franchise to private equity giant Apollo Global Management. The Steinbrenner family would relinquish a “de minimis” slice of its controlling equity, finalizing a transaction that will give the famed franchise a new, cash-rich partner, the Post has learned.
The partnership structure makes Apollo the Yankee’s biggest equity owner after the Steinbrenner family, which will still own a bit more than 60% of the team. Apollo’s $2.6 billion cash injection into Yankees involves both a debt and equity investment, and values the team at significantly more than $12 billion.
Once the deal closes, possibly as early as this week, the Yankees will rank among the world’s most valuable sports organizations. According to projections by limited partners involved, the Yankees will likely emerge as the most valuable baseball franchise, surpassing the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The deal has been agreed to in principle by all the parties, but given the complex nature of the purchase, could be delayed for somewhat longer, these people say. Details of the official terms of the Yankees new ownership structure have yet to be reported. It would end weeks of speculation into the details of the transaction, the outlines of which were disclosed last month with the Yankees’ announcement of a $2.6 billion investment from Apollo.
The deal underscores the importance of Apollo to the future of the Yankees — including providing capital to buy players, pay down expensive debt, and provide a cash cushion in case of a baseball strike. Baseball, like most professional sports, has been increasingly dominated by cash-rich Wall Street types either owning teams outright or through minority investments. Al Tylis, who runs Apollo’s sports-fund, will join the Yankee Global Enterprises’ 13-member board.
The Steinbrenner family will retain controlling interest in the Yankees above 60% but will sell what one person close to the deal says is a “de minimis” portion of its controlling stake of no more than 3%.
The deal that took shape over the summer involved limited partners for the team looking to monetize their investments for estate planning, layered with the changing ownership dynamics of baseball and the need for the Yankees to remain competitive in seeking roster telent.
Hedge fund impresario Steve Cohen owns the Yankees crosstown rival, the New York Mets, and is worth an estimated $26 billion. With Cohen’s backing, the Mets have a payroll of around $380 million, second only to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers are owned by Guggenheim Investment Group, an offshoot of the LA-based financial firm run by controlling partner Mark Walter.
Walter, a long-time financial executive and CEO of Guggenheim has been under pressure to deal with a cash crunch involving his insurance business. He is in the process of selling his stake in the Lakers for $12.5 billion to venture capitalist Josh Kushner, and former Disney chief Bob Iger, who will own a smaller slug in the team and manage its business operations.
The impetus of the Yankee’s deal with Apollo was more prosaic; a group of limited partners wanted to cash out of their investments for estate planning purposes, and Apollo was looking for an anchor investment for its newly created sports fund, these sources say.
Apollo, run by financier Marc Rowan, was a natural partner. His $1 trillion fund recently started a sports-targeted investment pool that has deployed $13 billion in capital since inception but with no major anchor investment. Leading the negotiations for the Yankees was team chairman Hal Steinbrenner, the youngest son of the legendary owner George Steinbrenner, who cut the deal with Rowan and Tylis, these people add.
The firm’s equity would appear to value the Yankees at around $12 billion, but that underestimates the true worth of the franchise since it’s a minority stake and subject to so-called haircuts in valuation, sources say.
“This is no longer your father’s baseball game with hedge fund, PE and corporate money involved,” said one major league baseball source. “The deal puts the Yankees on very firm footing.”
A spokesman for the Yankees had no immediate comment; a press rep for Apollo had no immediate comment.
Apollo’s portion of the deal was closed on August 11; the limited partners sale is now in its final stages. The structure of the deal involves Apollo paying cash upfront to buy an 8% stake of the team immediately and getting preferred stock for the other 8% that can be converted into pure equity in four years. The cash will also refinance holding company bank debt at significantly lower cost, these people add.
The PE giant will be owning the team through Yankees Global Management, an investment in the holding company that controls the Yankees as well as the Yes Network, and Legends Hospitality and the AC Milan soccer team.
PE firms are currently barred from owning more than 15% of any team according to the MLB rules, though the league is expected to waive the cap, MLB sources say.
The deal would rank as among the largest private equity transactions involving a sports franchise, allowing the Yankees to tap into Apollo’s nascent sports investment business, Apollo Sports Capital. The big PE firm’s stake in the Yankees is by far its largest. Its other investments include a majority stake in Spanish football club, Atletico Madrid, and a stake in Pickleball Inc,, the holding company for professional pickleball.
