New owners to be announced soon!

[redsrbetter]

Deal could be near on Reds sale

By Greg Paeth and Marc Lancaster
Post staff reporters




The Major League baseball season ended three days ago with the Chicago White Sox sweep of the World Series in Houston.

But for Cincinnati baseball fans, an off-season announcement might prove to be far more significant than anything that happened on the field this year.

A decision is expected soon - maybe as early as next week - about new ownership and new top-to-bottom control of the oldest franchise in professional baseball.

"We're getting very close. By December 1st the deal should be closed and approved and the new owners should be in place," said Stephen D. Greenberg, managing partner of Allen & Co., the New York firm that is handling the sale of 51.5 percent of the Reds' ownership.

But Greenberg and others familiar with a process that began shortly before Opening Day of the 2005 season in April suggested that the name of the buyer might be released well in advance of that date.

Two of the three groups that are still in the running to buy the majority stake have Cincinnati connections, Greenberg said.

Citing confidentiality agreements, he declined to identify any of the bidders who have submitted what he described as "practically indistinguishable" offers for the majority stake.

A variety of sources have said that one of the groups with Cincinnati ties is headed by New York theater producer Rocco Landesman and one of his long-time associates, Rick Steiner, of Avondale, who also is a theater producer. The group includes Dan Staton, the president of the Walnut Group, a venture capital firm with offices downtown, and John Osher, a highly successful Cincinnati entrepreneur.

Steiner declined to comment.

A second group that has some links to Cincinnati is headed by Ronald Switzer, a CPA who is one of the principals of Switzer McGaughey & Co., an investment firm based in Lexington.

But two sources who asked that their names not be used said they believe the Lexington group's bid is one of two that are no longer being given serious consideration.

Those sources said yet another group with Cincinnati ties - a group that has never been identified publicly - is among the three bidders that Greenberg is still negotiating with.

Switzer is one of the investors in Lexington Sports Ventures LLC, which owns the Lexington Horsemen arena football team. He also is the treasurer of the Governor's Mansion Preservation Fund, which has raised money to restore the Kentucky governor's residence in Frankfort.

Switzer has been working with Doug Flynn, a utility infielder for the Reds during the heyday of the Big Red Machine from 1975 to 1977. Flynn now works for Lexington's Central Bank.

Neither Flynn nor Switzer could be reached for comment Friday.

Both Switzer and Flynn attended a Reds game last month when the Cardinals visited Cincinnati. They were in seats several rows behind Reds' principal owner Carl Lindner.

During one break in the action, Switzer crouched down in the aisle and chatted briefly with Lindner, according to an account from one Reds' insider.

The one out-of-town bidder still in the running is New York attorney E. Miles Prentice III, who also is the president of the Huntsville, Ala., Stars, the Class AA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, according to sources familiar with the sales process.

Prentice's $75 million bid for the Kansas City Royals in 1999 was overwhelmingly rejected by Major League Baseball owners. Two years later he bid a reported $755 million for the Boston Red Sox, which were sold to another group for less money.

Prentice could not be reached for comment Thursday or Friday.

Greenberg said three bids under consideration are so close that "at the end of the day, it will come down to who is considered to be the best caretaker for the team for the future."

The three owners Greenberg represents - the Louise Nippert Trust; a division of the Gannett Co., whose newspaper properties include the Cincinnati Enquirer, and Cincinnati businessman George Strike - have not yet selected one of the three bidders, Greenberg said.

"Everyone has a point of view, but I think they're beginning to coalesce in one direction," Greenberg said.

Lindner's 37 percent stake is the largest among the current owners and resulted in the others ceding him the title "CEO for life" and control of the team.

Greenburg said Lindner's status has not hindered the sales process.

"I've been saying since the beginning that it's not an impediment and that it's only an impediment to those who want to make it an issue," Greenberg said. "Mr. Lindner has been hugely cooperative in getting us to the point that we are today."

Greenberg would not comment on whether Lindner has agreed to relinquish that title to guarantee that the new owners would have free rein to run the team without needing Lindner's approval.

One insider said the issue about Lindner's role with the team has been resolved so that a new owner wouldn't feel that the Cincinnati billionaire is still in charge.

Another source said resolving the Lindner issue is critical for anyone who might be paying somewhere around $135 million for the majority stake.

"They're not going to want to spend that kind of money if they don't have the power to come in and buy a pack of pencils," said a Reds insider who asked that his name not be used.

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs....510290371/1035

[albbla2000mu]

I only hope that whoever the owner is, I dont care if he is from Cincinnati or not......want to WIN! Actually win, spend money to do so.

[redsrbetter]

I agree, and I am very happy to hear that Lindner will no longer be making any decisions that will effect the team any longer. Now all we need to do is get rid of Allen and hope that the new ownership is ready to make some things happen.