Mets Owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon yesterday met with prospective minority investor David Einhorn and “concluded a new exclusive negotiating agreement with him that is expected to lead to a final deal next month, on better terms for the Mets,” according to a source cited by David Waldstein of the N.Y. TIMES. Sources said that the new exclusivity agreement came after the Mets reached out to Glencore Int'l Managing Dir Ray Bartoszek and "asked him to re-enter the bidding.” Bartoszek, who sources indicated was a “serious bidder for a minority share,” and Fred Wilpon met yesterday on Long Island, and the sides "had been expected to continue negotiations over the next few days.” But just hours after meeting with Bartoszek, the Mets released a statement that said they “were negotiating only with Einhorn.” Waldstein notes based on the sequence of events, it is “not inconceivable that the Mets could have used the negotiations with Bartoszek, and others, to compel more favorable terms from Einhorn” (N.Y. TIMES, 7/21). In N.Y., Thompson, Madden & O’Keeffe report Einhorn’s “exclusive negotiating period to buy 33% of the Mets for $200 million ended in early July and while the team’s owners continued to negotiate with the founder of Greenlight Capital, they also quietly began talks with Bartoszek and two other potential investors.” One source said that Einhorn “was playing hardball on a few issues, but when the competing bidders re-emerged he apparently reconsidered his stand.” Additional sources said that Einhorn’s bid “was not necessarily the best offer the Mets received in the bidding process, but his ties with baseball commissioner Bud Selig were said to be a factor in their decision to negotiate exclusively with Einhorn” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/21). The N.Y. POST’s Josh Kosman reports Bartoszek was interested in buying a minority share of the Mets “only if he could also purchase a stake" in SportsNet N.Y., "which is not currently included in the deal” (N.Y. POST, 7/21).
SOME GOOD NEWS? In N.Y., Mark DeCambre reports Bernie Madoff trustee Irving Picard told the district court judge overseeing the case that he will “drop the damages claim.” The decision “marks a significant setback for Picard and potentially Madoff victims.” But Picard’s “retreat from pursuing common law remedies is also good news for” banks involved in the suit and the Mets (N.Y. POST, 7/21).
