The Wilpon family announced today (Monday) that it has come
to an agreement to sell the Mets to American billionaire hedge fund manager, Steve
Cohen.
The transaction is
subject to the approval of the other Major League Baseball owners. According to
published reports, the deal values the Mets around $2.4 billion.
“I am excited to have reached an agreement with the Wilpon
and Katz families to purchase the New York Mets,” Cohen said in a statement.
Cohen is a lifelong Mets fan who currently owns an eight
percent stake in the team.
He tried to acquire a majority stake in the Mets last year but negotiations the Wilpon Family’s Sterling Equities, the parent company of the Mets, fell apart.
The Wilpon Family has controlled the Mets since 2002 through their Sterling Equities real estate investment company. Co-founder and chairman, Fred Wilpon and his brother-in-law Saul Katz, president and co-founder of the company, bought their first stake in the team in 1980 and later became partners with former majority owner, Nelson Doudleday.
Sterling Equities is a diversified, family-run group of
companies whose portfolio consists primarily of holdings in real estate,
sports, and media in the New York area.
It has developed a number of properties, including 450 Lexington Avenue,
and is the co-developer along with Related Companies of Willets Point, a major
new housing development next door to Citi Field.
Sterling Equities is also working on the $1.2 billion
Belmont Park project, which includes an arena for the New York Islanders.
