Billionaire Steve Cohen agrees to buy the New York Mets

Billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen has signed an agreement with Sterling Partners to buy the New York Mets baseball team, the two sides said in a statement on Monday.

“I am excited to have reached an agreement with the Wilpon and Katz families to purchase the New York Mets,” Cohen said in the brief statement.

A spokesman for Cohen declined to comment beyond the statement.

Newsday reported that Cohen will own 95% of the franchise, with the deal valuing the club at about $2.475 billion, a record amount for a North American sports team.

Fred Wilpon and his brother-in-law, Saul Katz, purchased their first stake in the team in 1980.

The 64-year-old Cohen, who is a New York native and a lifelong Mets fan, currently owns 8% of the team. He had tried to purchase a majority stake last November but the deal fell through. He is now poised to become baseball’s richest owner.

Cohen’s competition included former New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez and his pop star fiance Jennifer Lopez, who led a group that made an unsuccessful bid for the team.

 Source: Reuters 

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