Drayton McLane, the owner of the Houston Astros since 1993, has entered into exclusive negotiations with an investment group that hopes to buy the team.
Astros Owner Reportedly In Negotiations To Sell Team
First off, the deal is for a supposed 700 million. That’s pretty high, as Forbes valued the team at just 445 million last April. While that price may have gone up a little in the past season, it’s more likely to have decreased slightly due to revenue shortfalls. That means McLane is cashing out with roughly 250 million more than the overall value of the franchise and almost 600 million more than he purchased the team for in 1992.This is a huge financial transaction for Drayton, and has to count as a win for him. I’m sure this is basically setting up the retirement of the 73-year old grocery tycoon*. The other interesting thing about the price is that Drayton seems to be insisting that a certain amount has to be paid up front. I’m not really sure why this is, considering his debt/value ratio of 12% was tied for the sixth-lowest in baseball. This excellent post by Adam Morris over at Lone Star Ball shows the Astros should be carrying about 53-54 million in debt currently, which is all the money an investor would necessarily have to cover up front. I’m sure that’s still some residual debt from the stadium being built back in 2000, but it’s very low, making the Astros that much more attractive to an investment team.
According to one Astros beat writer, a pending deal may not be so close:
McLane says he's not trying to sell the team and the situation isn't an indicator he's about to sell team
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