NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES, Sept 19: US conglomerate Anschutz Co said on Tuesday it wants to sell its live sports and entertainment company Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), whose assets ranges from teams like the Los Angeles Lakers to concert venues such as London’s famous O2 arena.
Anschutz Co, which is owned by Denver billionaire Phillip Anschutz, said it has retained Blackstone Advisory Partners as financial advisor to assist in the sale process.
A sale of AEG could fetch several billion dollars, although Anschutz could sell all or part of the assets, a source said.
Anschutz CEO Tim Leiweke had been approached before about selling the company, whose other assets include the Los Angeles Kings hockey team and the L.A. Galaxy soccer team, according to a different person who has been briefed on the company’s status but is not part of the deal.
The person added that potential buyers could include John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp and News Corp, which is splitting its publishing and entertainment assets later this year. Neither company has made a formal bid, however.
News Corp declined to comment while representatives from Liberty Media were not immediately available for comment.
A sale to Malone’s Liberty Media would have regulatory hurdles. Liberty owns a 21 percent stake in Live Nation Entertainment, which is the nation’s biggest show promoter while AEG’s concert division, AEG Live is the second-largest.
This is not the first time that Anschutz has explored a sale of some or all of AEG. In 2008, IAC’s Ticketmaster and Cablevision Systems Corp came close to acquiring 49 percent of the AEG Live concert division for roughly $400 million. But those talks eventually broke down and Ticketmaster went on to merge with Live Nation.
AEG Live was also the promoter behind the ‘This Is It’ comeback tour that Michael Jackson was about to embark on before he died. It is still embroiled in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Katherine Jackson, the singer’s mother, in which she accuses the company of being responsible for medical decisions made by Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, that caused his death.
AEG Live last week dropped a separate lawsuit it filed seeking a $17.5 million insurance claim payment from Lloyd’s of London to reimburse upfront costs they incurred to stage the ‘This Is It’ tour.
(agencies)
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