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Business News Live Business
AEG bids reportedly under expectations
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 25 February 2013
Bids for the Anschutz Entertainment Group have come in at the lower end of expectations, according to a report by the New York Post, which is someway below the price AEG’s current owner Philip Anschutz had been reportedly pushing for.
When Anschutz put his entertainment company – which includes venue real estate, various sporting interests and the AEG Live tour and festivals business – up for sale last year, the global entity was valued by most commentators at between $6 and $8 billion. Though reports later in the year mentioned a price tag closer to $10 billion, possibly based on briefings by Anschutz insiders.
But, according to the Post, two serious bidders through to the second round of the auction – Guggenheim Partners and Qatar Sports Investment – are both offering less than $7 billion. And some insiders are apparently predicting that Anschutz might call off the sale if that’s the sort of money the deal would generate.
One issue, it seems, is Anschutz’s reported insistence that any buyer should keep the wider AEG company going as one entity after purchase. Indeed, some reckon that to maximise return Anschutz should split up AEG himself before sale, not least because some of the firm’s US sports club interests would attract generous bids from individual billionaires who have neither the desire nor the means to bid for the group in its entirety.
AEG reps say simply that sale talks continue with various parties.
