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Panthers to Be Sold to Public Company

The old boys club of the NHL has not had a good couple of weeks when it comes to keeping league business under the wraps the Board of Governors prefers. The NHL owners prefer to keep all information about team operations and financial data strictly private. That helps clubs get better sale prices and helps the league make a better case with arena owners and others when it comes time for contract negotiations.

However, last week, the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy filings provided more public information about the inner workings of a NHL franchise than most investment bankers buying franchises often receive. Now comes word from South Florida that the Panthers may be sold for $240 million to a company called Sports Properties Acquisition Corp. Why is that a problem, assuming the sale is approved by the owners?

Well, the buyer just happens to be a publicly traded company, commonly called a special purpose acquisition company, traded on the AMEX, (ticker symbol HMR). It is headed by Tony Tavares a former executive with both the Washington Nationals and Anaheim Ducks, so it does have someone with a real sports background in management. But, there is that public reporting thing. With HMR as the owner, and as the Panthers will be the company's only asset, at least for now, all of the Panthers financial information will have to be reported since it will all be material to the company's operations. It will be interesting to see if the Board of Governors is willing to approve the sale with that type of disclosure on the horizon.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on June 03, 2009 (boomark / email).