It could be the coldest private equity deal in years.
Centerbridge Partners has entered negotiations to back a bid by rapper and actor Ice Cube to purchase a group of 21 regional sports networks from Disney, according to Bloomberg. If an agreement is reached, Centerbridge would reportedly join Ice Cube's BIG3 basketball league in the upcoming round of the auction, which could value the networks at around $10 billion and has already drawn interest from a host of PE firms including Apollo Global Management and Platinum Equity.
Disney previously agreed to unload 22 regional sports networks to appease regulators, who had antitrust concerns over the network's $71.3 billion deal to purchase the entertainment division of 21st Century Fox. The company has already agreed to sell the prize of the collection—New York Yankees-focused channel YES Network—back to the baseball organization. But it still must strike a deal for the rest of the networks in the next three months, again per Bloomberg.
Amazon, Apollo, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Major League Baseball have all reportedly made bids in earlier rounds, along with a bid from Minnesota Twins owner Jim Pohlad, Platinum and Liberty Media last month.
But Ice Cube, whose real name is O'Shea Jackson, is presumably betting his BIG3 basketball league could use the acquisition to build a sports and entertainment TV behemoth. Founded in 2017, the eight-team 3-on-3 league features former NBA players such as Baron Davis, Metta World Peace, Rashard Lewis, Nate Robinson and a host of others playing an eight-game season schedule; the league plans to expand to 12 teams this summer.
For Centerbridge, the deal would be a fairly large departure from its typical M.O. Since 2010, the New York-based buyout firm has made just two PE deals in the media sector, per the PitchBook Platform. But it's been active in other areas of late. Earlier this week, the firm completed a sale of Chinese restaurant chain P.F. Chang's to TriArtisan Capital Advisors and asset manager Paulson & Co. for a reported $700 million.
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