The Los Angeles Dodgers filed a plan for the Major League Baseball team to exit bankruptcy by April 30 and pay all debts after concluding an auction of the club.
Under the plan filed yesterday, which the team previously said it would propose, the Dodgers will pay all creditors, owed at least $643 million, in full. Under an agreement with MLB, a sale of the team must be completed by the end of April.
“The Dodgers are not only a storied franchise with truly global appeal, but also present the attractive potential for strong cash flow and significant value enhancement,” the team said yesterday in a statement.
The Dodgers’ owner, Frank McCourt, agreed to sell the team after battling MLB in court for months. To emerge from bankruptcy, the team must win approval for its reorganization plan from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross in Wilmington, Delaware.
The team said it expects to win approval of the plan and to exit bankruptcy by April 30.
Since filing for bankruptcy in June, the Dodgers have fought with MLB and News Corp. (NWSA)’s Fox Sports, which televises the team’s games. To settle those disputes, McCourt agreed to sell the team and the Dodgers dropped an effort to solicit separate bids for future telecast rights.
Potential bidders for the team include Rick Caruso, the Los Angeles real estate developer who is working with Joe Torre, the former Dodgers and New York Yankees manager; Steve Cohen, manager of the hedge-fund SAC Capital Advisors LLC in Stamford, Connecticut; and Mark Walter, chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners LLC in New York, who counts Magic Johnson, the former Los Angeles Lakers player and a basketball Hall of Famer, among his partners.
The deadline for opening bids is Jan. 23.
The case is In re Los Angeles Dodgers LLC, 11-12010, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).
— Editors: Charles Carter, Stephen Farr
To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Church in Wilmington, Delaware, at schurch3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Pickering at jpickering@bloomberg.net
Dodgers File Bankruptcy Exit Plan Based on Completing Sale by End of April – Bloomberg:
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