Patriots’ partial sale reportedly approved at NFL league meeting
The Krafts’ 8% sale to two different investors reportedly got enough votes to be pushed through by league owners.
The NFL has approved an 8% stake sale of the New England Patriots.
The sale is set to be split between Dean Metropoulos (5%) and Sixth Street Partners (3%). For the sale to happen, at least three quarters of NFL owners had to approve at Wednesday's league meeting. Patriots owner Robert Kraft recently alluded to the deal to Forbes.
“We’ve come up with a program that both satisfies the needs of the private equity firms but also supports the culture that we want to keep going,” Kraft told Forbes (via Hartford Courant) in September. “A win-win all around. I never thought I would sell anything out, but I’m considering it.” Forbes has the Patriots ranked as the fourth-most valuable NFL franchise. Per CNBC, the Patriots are estimated to be worth $9.25 billion.
Sixth Street Partners, a global investment firm, was part of Bill Chisholm’s $6.1 billion bid to purchase the Boston Celtics. Sixth Street also has stakes in sports franchises like the San Antonio Spurs and San Francisco Giants.
Dean Metropoulos, executive chairman and CEO of C. Dean Metropoulos & Company, is a Greek-American businessman whose family moved to Watertown when he was a child. After graduating from Babson College with a bachelor’s degree and an MBA, he would go on to acquire Pabst Brewing Company and Hostess Brands.
Along with the Patriots’ stakes transactions, the NFL also approved a sale of a 10% stake in the New York Giants to Julia Koch, and a 3.2% stake in the San Francisco 49ers to Fortress Investment Group Executive Chairman Pete Briger Jr.
