Madison Square Garden Co., controlled by the Dolan family, is considering splitting into two publicly traded companies,
Bloomberg reported.
MSG's sports teams and cable networks, would be housed in one company, and its real estate assets and entertainment business would move to another company, the Bloomberg article said.
The Dolan family owns about 69% of the company's voting shares. Nelson Peltz, co-founder of Train Fund Management LP, and Scott Sperling, co-president of private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, replaced Alan Schwartz and Vincent Tese on MSG's board, the article said. The company also announced a buyback of as much of $500 million in Class A shares, its first buyback ever, the Bloomberg article said.
A
Wall Street Journal
report said
that while Trian doesn't own a stake in MSG, Peltz and James Dolan, MSG's executive chairman, are longtime acquaintances. “Mr. Peltz and Trian are known for pushing to split up companies,” the
Journal
article said.
The Bloomberg report noted that MSG currently is run as three divisions. MSG Sports owns and operates the NBA's New York Knicks, the NHL's New York Rangers, the WNBA's New York Liberty and the American Hockey League's Hartford Wolf Pack. MSG Media consists of the company's regional sports networks. MSG Entertainment produces and hosts concerts and shows at MSG's real estate venues: Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre, the Chicago Theatre and the Forum in Inglewood, Calif. (Sources: Bloomberg, Oct. 27, 2014;
Wall Street Journal
, Oct. 28, 2014.)
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