Mexico's Peralta in talks to buy Anaheim Angels
By Fiona Ortiz
10/08/02 15:59 ET
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- Billionaire businessman Carlos Peralta said on Tuesday he is in talks to buy the Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team from Walt Disney Co., vying to become the first Mexican to own a Major League club.
Peralta told Reuters that two other parties are also in negotiations with entertainment conglomerate Disney to buy the Angels. One of them is Peter Ueberroth, who was commissioner of baseball in the 1980s.
Peralta declined to say what prices are on the table.
"We are at the stage when we have to meet with the Major League Baseball commission to approve the possible buyers of teams that are on sale. We are three groups interested in Anaheim. I figure it could take three or four months," he said.
Burbank, California-based Disney acquired the Angels in 1996 but has struggled with the team since then. According to Major League Baseball, the club lost $99.8 million from 1995 through 2001.
In September Disney hired an investment bank to help it sell the baseball team and its Mighty Ducks National Hockey League franchise, which also plays in Anaheim, about 25 miles south of Los Angeles.
The Angels are in the playoffs for the first time since 1986. In their first playoff series, they beat the New York Yankees and they are trying to make it to the World Series for the first time in their history.
Disney was reported to be in talks with one potential buyer in the late 1990s, and at that time media reports said a price of $400 million to $500 million was being discussed.
More recently, media reports said Alabama banker Donald Watkins met with Disney officials earlier this year to discuss buying the team for a preliminary price of $250 million.
BASEBALL AND BULLS
Peralta owns one of Mexico's top baseball teams, the Tigres of Puebla, founded and owned by his family 47 years ago. He also owns 45 percent of the Pericos of Puebla baseball team, and 14 years ago he founded a baseball academy, which now has 60 prospects training for Mexico's baseball leagues.
The Tigres, who moved last year to Puebla from Mexico City, finished second in the Mexican baseball league this year, losing the final series to their archrivals, the Mexico City Diablos Rojos.
Peralta, who inherited his baseball enthusiasm from his father, recently returned from a trip to Southern California, where he watched the Angels on Sept. 29 at home at Edison International Field, in the last game of the regular season. They beat the Seattle Mariners 7-6.
He said the stadium was packed and he noted many Mexicans and other Latinos in the crowd.
"I like that the team is in an area with a dense Latino population," he said.
Money-losing sports franchises are generally a hobby for the world's wealthiest, and Peralta makes the grade.
Forbes magazine estimated Peralta's net worth at $1.3 billion last year and put him and his family at No. 351 on the 2002 list of the world's richest people. The Peraltas have been on the Forbes billionaires list since at least 1999.
Peralta owns privately held Grupo Iusa, a diversified business empire including holdings in construction, real estate, shoes and plastics factories, an armored-car business, and medical services.
He also runs two schools for bullfighters.
By Fiona Ortiz
10/08/02 15:59 ET
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- Billionaire businessman Carlos Peralta said on Tuesday he is in talks to buy the Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team from Walt Disney Co., vying to become the first Mexican to own a Major League club.
Peralta told Reuters that two other parties are also in negotiations with entertainment conglomerate Disney to buy the Angels. One of them is Peter Ueberroth, who was commissioner of baseball in the 1980s.
Peralta declined to say what prices are on the table.
"We are at the stage when we have to meet with the Major League Baseball commission to approve the possible buyers of teams that are on sale. We are three groups interested in Anaheim. I figure it could take three or four months," he said.
Burbank, California-based Disney acquired the Angels in 1996 but has struggled with the team since then. According to Major League Baseball, the club lost $99.8 million from 1995 through 2001.
In September Disney hired an investment bank to help it sell the baseball team and its Mighty Ducks National Hockey League franchise, which also plays in Anaheim, about 25 miles south of Los Angeles.
The Angels are in the playoffs for the first time since 1986. In their first playoff series, they beat the New York Yankees and they are trying to make it to the World Series for the first time in their history.
Disney was reported to be in talks with one potential buyer in the late 1990s, and at that time media reports said a price of $400 million to $500 million was being discussed.
More recently, media reports said Alabama banker Donald Watkins met with Disney officials earlier this year to discuss buying the team for a preliminary price of $250 million.
BASEBALL AND BULLS
Peralta owns one of Mexico's top baseball teams, the Tigres of Puebla, founded and owned by his family 47 years ago. He also owns 45 percent of the Pericos of Puebla baseball team, and 14 years ago he founded a baseball academy, which now has 60 prospects training for Mexico's baseball leagues.
The Tigres, who moved last year to Puebla from Mexico City, finished second in the Mexican baseball league this year, losing the final series to their archrivals, the Mexico City Diablos Rojos.
Peralta, who inherited his baseball enthusiasm from his father, recently returned from a trip to Southern California, where he watched the Angels on Sept. 29 at home at Edison International Field, in the last game of the regular season. They beat the Seattle Mariners 7-6.
He said the stadium was packed and he noted many Mexicans and other Latinos in the crowd.
"I like that the team is in an area with a dense Latino population," he said.
Money-losing sports franchises are generally a hobby for the world's wealthiest, and Peralta makes the grade.
Forbes magazine estimated Peralta's net worth at $1.3 billion last year and put him and his family at No. 351 on the 2002 list of the world's richest people. The Peraltas have been on the Forbes billionaires list since at least 1999.
Peralta owns privately held Grupo Iusa, a diversified business empire including holdings in construction, real estate, shoes and plastics factories, an armored-car business, and medical services.
He also runs two schools for bullfighters.