Brener Int'l Group Chair & CEO Gabriel Brener is now the controlling owner of the Dynamo after acquiring AEG’s remaining 50% stake in the MLS club, as well as NWSL’s Houston Dash and the remaining 27 years of the 30-year lease on BBVA Compass Stadium. Brener had been a minority owner of the club since ’08, when he and Golden Boy Promotions President & co-Founder Oscar De La Hoya acquired 50% of the club from AEG. Houston-based businessman and minority Astros shareholder Ben Guill and Portland-based businessman Jake Silverstein will also join the new investor group as minority partners. The transaction also sets a milestone for MLS, as it is the first time that no individual owner holds a stake in multiple clubs (Ian Thomas, Staff Writer). In Houston, Jose de Jesus Ortiz notes Brener, who has long been "seen as the most visible face" of the Dynamo ownership group, "declined to divulge the sale price." Brener said, "We feel the time has come for us to take the reins over here and give the team a little bit more of a family-personality ownership than the corporate image that it had before. We're very excited about it and very happy to be able to now be at the helm of the team." Brener "began negotiating to purchase AEG's stake in April." He said that negotiations "intensified over the summer." Brener "has family in Houston," but he has been based in L.A. "since moving there from Mexico" in '77. Although he "vows to start visiting BBVA Compass Stadium more often now that he owns controlling interest in the Dynamo, he doesn't expect to be in Houston again until early next year" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 12/16). Also in Houston, Olivia Pulsinelli noted Rockets Owner Les Alexander reportedly "had been in negotiations to buy the team" in '12, but the Dynamo’s then-owners "turned him down." AEG Chair Phil Anschutz’s attempt to sell his company around the same time "also created uncertainty around the Dynamo’s fate." Anschutz "took AEG off the market" in '13 (BIZJOURNALS.com, 12/15).
