At a news conference yesterday at Three Rivers Stadium, CA
businessman Kevin McClatchy announced he and the Pirates were
sending a sales agreement to MLB for final approval, according to
this morning's PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. Eugene Litman, one of
the original members of the public-private consortium that bought
the team ten years ago, has agreed to keep $1M of his original
$2.5M investment. McClatchy says this pushes him to $3M short of
the amount he needs to buy the team. Whether or not MLB approves
the transaction depends on McClatchy satisfying the NL's debt-to-
equity ratio. MLB told McClatchy he needs to raise as much as
$64M to satisfy the owners, but McClatchy says his accounts see
the Pirates' debt at $59M -- and counting Litman's stake,
McClatchy has $56M in equity. The Pirates ownership group has
given McClathcy until December 22 to make up the difference.
David Roderick, Chair of Mayor Tom Murphy's Stadium Task Forces
and a former USX exec, is helping McClatchy by negotiating with
PPG and Alcoa to keep their $2.5M investments. They are the only
two corporate partners who have not committed to staying with the
team, and while PPG has said it would like to get out of
baseball, a source familiar with the negotiations says PPG may
keep its stake in the team if it would help McClatchy keep the
team in Pittsburgh (Steve Halvonik, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE,
11/15).
