Pohlad Family Selling Marquette Financial, Insist It's Unrelated To MLS Pursuit

The POHLAD family is "getting out of banking, selling the financial arm of its business portfolio" for $182.5M, according to Adam Belz of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. The Pohlad family, which has owned the Twins since '84, as well as commercial real estate and auto dealerships, is also pursuing a "new soccer franchise" in the city. But Twins Owner JIM POHLAD said that the "simmering soccer question is not related to the sale of Marquette Financial." Pohlad: "That has nothing to do with it. No connection. We still like the financial services business. We just think the opportunities for value creation from our family’s standpoint are better aligned with a bigger bank." K.C.-based UMB Financial will "pay the family in stock for Marquette Financial Companies, which includes 13 once-troubled banks and a few lending companies based in the Southwest, plus another lending company in Minneapolis." The sale "includes about 50 employees in Minneapolis and 270 total" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 12/16).