Henry's Fenway Sports Group owns the Red Sox, EPL club Liverpool and Fenway ParkGETTY IMAGES
Red Sox Owner John Henry is "in talks" with RedBall Acquisition Corp. on an $8B deal that "would merge" Fenway Sports Group with RedBall, the SPAC launched by PE firm RedBird Capital Partners and A's Exec VP/Baseball Operations Billy Beane, according to sources cited by Lombardo & Gottfried of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. RedBall raised $575M in August to buy businesses in sports and sports-related media and data analytics, and sources said that it "plans to raise an additional" $1B to "purchase a stake that will total less than 25% in Fenway Sports Group and value it at $8 billion including debt." Sources said that talks are in the "early innings and could still fall apart." FSG's investors "had a meeting recently to discuss the potential transaction." FSG owns the Red Sox, EPL club Liverpool and Fenway Park, and has a "controlling stake" in NESN. If it becomes a public company, sources said that Fenway "could look to buy up more clubs in Europe, where a number have been on the block." New York-based RedBird "made its first foray into European soccer in July by acquiring a majority stake" in French second-division club Toulouse (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/10).
