Friday, February 24, 2006
Blank breaks off talks to buy Braves
02/22/2006
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Atlanta Falcons owner and Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank announced on Wednesday afternoon that he has halted talks regarding his possible purchase of the Braves.
Blank's AMB Group had been discussing a possible purchase with representatives of Time Warner, the club's parent company that announced in December they had put the Braves up for sale.
A release provided by the AMB Group read: "Over the last two months, representatives of Time Warner, Turner and AMB Group have worked diligently and in good faith to reach a preliminary agreement on the sale of the Atlanta Braves to AMB Group. Unfortunately, we were not able to get closer together on terms during this time to achieve that goal.
"At this juncture, we have suspended our discussions with Time Warner and Turner."
Turner senior vice president Greg Hughes said Time Warner is in continued talks with a number of interested parties and won't be disclosing the details of the specific negotiations.
"To maintain the integrity of the process and the confidentiality of interested parties, we are not commenting on individual discussions we have had concerning the Atlanta Braves," Hughes said. "We will say that our initial assumption, that the franchise has significant marketplace value and that there is widespread interest in it as a possible acquisition, has been confirmed. We continue to have meaningful discussions with outside parties about a possible sale of the Braves."
The sticking point for Blank is apparently the asking price for the franchise, and an executive vice president of the AMB Group told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution later Wednesday that the deal may not be entirely dead.
"It doesn't necessarily mean it's totally terminated," Kim Shreckengost of the AMB Group told the AJC. "If they want to discuss it with us again, we'd be open to doing so. ... Obviously we were looking at this from an investment standpoint, so we had to be able to justify a return on the investment."
According to the AJC, Time Warner wants in excess of $400 million for the team, while Blank believes it is worth significantly less than that.
Source: http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Atlanta Falcons owner and Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank announced on Wednesday afternoon that he has halted talks regarding his possible purchase of the Braves.
Blank's AMB Group had been discussing a possible purchase with representatives of Time Warner, the club's parent company that announced in December they had put the Braves up for sale.
A release provided by the AMB Group read: "Over the last two months, representatives of Time Warner, Turner and AMB Group have worked diligently and in good faith to reach a preliminary agreement on the sale of the Atlanta Braves to AMB Group. Unfortunately, we were not able to get closer together on terms during this time to achieve that goal.
"At this juncture, we have suspended our discussions with Time Warner and Turner."
Turner senior vice president Greg Hughes said Time Warner is in continued talks with a number of interested parties and won't be disclosing the details of the specific negotiations.
"To maintain the integrity of the process and the confidentiality of interested parties, we are not commenting on individual discussions we have had concerning the Atlanta Braves," Hughes said. "We will say that our initial assumption, that the franchise has significant marketplace value and that there is widespread interest in it as a possible acquisition, has been confirmed. We continue to have meaningful discussions with outside parties about a possible sale of the Braves."
The sticking point for Blank is apparently the asking price for the franchise, and an executive vice president of the AMB Group told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution later Wednesday that the deal may not be entirely dead.
"It doesn't necessarily mean it's totally terminated," Kim Shreckengost of the AMB Group told the AJC. "If they want to discuss it with us again, we'd be open to doing so. ... Obviously we were looking at this from an investment standpoint, so we had to be able to justify a return on the investment."
According to the AJC, Time Warner wants in excess of $400 million for the team, while Blank believes it is worth significantly less than that.
Source: http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/
