Pro sports teams don’t need investment banks – New York Post

Speaking of sports, maybe pro sports teams do not need to hire investment banks to get record sale prices for their clubs.

In recent weeks, Bruce Sherman and New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter agreed to buy the Miami Marlins baseball team for $1.2 billion, a price better than many expected, and Tilman Fertitta agreed to buy the Houston Rockets basketball team for $2.2 billion, a record sale price for any franchise.

The common thread: Neither the Marlins nor the Rockets used an investment bank to sell their team, sources said.

“I like to think we add value,” a prominent sports banker told the Post, adding that either franchise might have attracted more in a conventional auction process.

“Sports teams are hot,” the banker conceded, “and we are at an all-time high,” so finding buyers is not hard.

Modest sell-side deal fees of 1 percent mean that banks lost a combined $34 million from not being in on the deals.

In global team sales, Morgan Stanley since 2010 has led the “league” tables, advising on deals worth a combined $14 billion, with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan not far behind, according to Dealogic.