David Einhorn: Mets Reneged on Terms of Our Deal

[dcollon]

Looks like the Mets deal is off.

 

From WSJ:

 

We’re getting trickles of detail about the surprise news today involving the collapsed talks for a minority investor in the New York Mets.

 

The proposed $200 million investment from hedge-fund investor David Einhorn has been cooking since May, and it was thought to be a necessary financial jolt for the Mets, who are struggling both financially and on the field.

 

Einhorn is giving his point of view in a conference call right now. Einhorn said he can’t talk much about what happened between him and the Mets, but he made plain his belief that the Mets tried to renege on certain important terms at the last minute. Among those, according to Einhorn:

 

* He said the Mets reopened investment discussions with at least one possible investor in the Mets, even though the baseball team and Einhorn had agreed to a written contract. (As has been reported, those re-opened talks were with a group including Ray Bartoszek, the former Glencore commodities trader.)

 

* Einhorn said he had been told Major League Baseball would approve in advance the possibility of Einhorn as a majority owner in the team, if it comes to that down the line. (Other team owners have to green light any newcomers.)  Einhorn said late last week he learned the Mets had lobbied Major League Baseball to remove that advance-approval provision from their deal.

 

Einhorn said he considers his Mets investment DOA, but he said he harbors warm feelings from the last few months. “This experience will always be a happy memory for me because of the Mets fans,” said Einhorn, who has been popping up in the stands at Mets games of late.

 

“This has been a very interesting summer for me. I’ve learned a lot. It’s been overall a happy experience. I am disappointed that we didn’t get to a successful outcome in the transaction,” he told reporters on the call.

 

Einhorn, always a stickler for details, also said he wanted to put to rest inaccuracies published in the media about him and the deal. For example, Einhorn said he is not — as has been reported — 43 years old. He said he looks forward to celebrating his 43rd birthday in November.