First, Dealscape is not suggesting dealmaker John Canning Jr.'s buyout firm Madison Dearborn Partner is having financial troubles akin to John Henry's hedge fund. With that out of the way, Dealscape is suggesting, however, Canning could become the hero of Cubs fans everywhere like Henry is to Red Sox Nation.
The founder of Chicago-based Madison Dearborn reportedly is the front-runner in the pending auction of the Windy City's National League franchise, according to the Chicago Tribune, whose parent Tribune Co. is selling the storied team. There are some analogies between a possible Canning bid and Henry's 2002 bid for the Boston Red Sox.
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- For starters, Henry was already involved in Major League Baseball when he threw his hat in the ring — holding a stake in the Florida Marlins. Similarly, Canning is a minority owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, which he'll have to divest in order to buy the Cubs. Henry's involvement gave him an upper hand against rival bidders including Cablevision Systems Corp. founder John Dolans' higher offer.
- Henry partnered with others who had ties to baseball: Tom Werner, who owned the San Diego Padres, and Larry Luchino, former president of the Padres and Baltimore Orioles. Canning reportedly is partnered with McDonald's Corp. chairman Andrew McKenna, who was formerly chairman of the Cubs.
- Lastly, when Henry bought the Red Sox, the team hadn't won a World Series in 84 years — the third-longest drought behind Chicago's White Sox and Cubs.
The first two factors benefit Canning. After all, Tribune reportedly wants to fast track a Cubs sale before New Year's for tax reasons, notes the Tribune. Such a scenario gives Canning an upper hand even if he doesn't offer the highest bid because he's likely to receive swift approval from MLB's club of owners.
So it seems the Cubs are Canning's for the taking. But in order to complete the Henry analogy, he'll have to bring a World Series victory back to Chicago's North Side after a century's long losing streak. —Matthew Wurtzel
See story about Cubs auction from the Chicago Tribune
See story about Cubs from Dealbook
See Aug. 13 post about Cubs auction from Dealscape
See July 13 story about Cubs from TheDeal.com
See Baseball Dealwatch
See Tribune Dealwatch
See May 29 story about Henry's trading troubles from TheStreet via Yahoo! Finance
Tags: media, deals, m&a, mergers, private+equity
Comments
It probably doesn't hurt that former Special Partner at Madison Dearborn John Madigan used to be the Chairman and CEO of Tribune Co (see newsvisual's map of the connections: http://www.newsvisual.com/newsvisual/2007/09/tribune-comany-.html ). Could this be helpful??