carolina hurricanes sale<\/b>
\nThere may be three more potential buyers for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Team president Don Waddell said Wednesday that talks with Texas-based sports attorney Chuck Greenberg have slowed down and that other possible buyers have emerged, including Dallas businessman Tom Dundon.
\u201cThe Greenberg thing had been ongoing as we all know,\u201d Waddell said. \u201cIt has slowed down. We haven\u2019t heard back from Chuck in a while. We believe he is actively trying to find investors.
\u201cBut there are others groups that have now stepped forward and taking hard looks at the franchise. Obviously, Tom Dundon\u2019s name came out today, a Dallas businessperson who has a lot of interest.\u201d
Greenberg said Wednesday that he remained interested in purchasing the Hurricanes and had been in contact as recently as this week with Allen & Co., which is managing the sale for Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos Jr., but acknowledged that he still had not raised the necessary funds to buy the team.
\u201cIn late September, we had made a lot of progress getting the equity but we weren’t all the way there,\u201d Greenberg said. \u201cPete told me he felt the value had gone up and he wanted to test the market by talking to other buyers. Given the amount of time throughout which we’d been having our discussions, I completely understood. After all, it’s his team and his prerogative. Since that time, the last eight or nine weeks, he and his representatives have been talking to other buyers. I’ve been talking to other potential investors.\u201d
Canadian media outlet RDS first reported Wednesday that Dundon may have an interest in either acquiring the team from Karmanos or becoming a partner with Karmanos.
Waddell said Dundon attended one of the Canes\u2019 preseason exhibition games this year and has toured PNC Arena. He also said there are two other interested groups in addition to the Greenberg group and Dundon.
\u201cAll are committed to keeping the team in Raleigh,\u201d Waddell said.
Waddell said all interested groups also expressed interest in keeping Karmanos involved with the franchise. He said Karmanos could be a part of the ownership but said whether he would remain majority owner is \u201cyet to be determined.\u201d
Waddell said the letter of intent with the Greenberg group was non-binding and had expired.
\u201cIf he came back to the table he would be one of the pursuers,\u201d Waddell said. \u201cRight now we\u2019re meeting with other groups and talking to other people. It\u2019s wide open.\u201d
Karmanos, who has owned the franchise since 1994, has said he is willing to sell the team and has mentioned a price of between $450 million and $500 million.
Karmanos also has said that other groups were interested if the Greenberg group\u2019s bid fell through. In an interview in October, Karmanos said he believed Greenberg was having trouble putting together an investment group to raise the money.
Dundon, a billionaire, shouldn\u2019t have that problem. He served as CEO and president of Santander Consumer USA, one of the nation\u2019s largest subprime auto lenders, until July 2015. It was reported by Auto Finance News this month that Santander Consumer, which Dundon founded in 1995, agreed to pay Dundon more than $700 million in an exit deal.
Dundon now is managing partner at Dundon Capital Partners LLC, and CEO and president of Dundon Capital Acquisition Corporation in Dallas. Attempts to reach Dundon for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Dundon was one of the developers in the creation of Trinity Forest Golf Club in southeast Dallas. The course was designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, who oversaw the many changes to Pinehurst No. 2 before the 2014 U. S. Open and U. S. Women\u2019s Open.
The PGA Tour selected Trinity Forest to host the AT&T Bryon Nelson, scheduled in May, as the tour shifted the tournament from TPC Las Colinas. Dundon is also a primary investor in the Top Golf national golf-entertainment chain; the closest location is in Charlotte.
Karmanos told The News & Observer last month that negotiations were continuing with Greenberg but that he had questions as to whether he would be able to form an investment group capable of raising the amount needed to buy the team.
\u201cThe sale of the team is just sitting there, waiting for Chuck to say, \u2018Geez, I can\u2019t raise the money,\u2019 \u201c Karmanos said. \u201cWe have a commitment to Chuck, and we\u2019re going to see it through. And quite frankly I wish he would pick up the phone and say, \u2018Geez, you know what, I can\u2019t get it done.\u2019 Because it looks like he can\u2019t get it done.\u201d
Asked if he believed Greenberg would be able to pull together a group of investors capable of completing the sale, Karmanos said, \u201cYour guess is as good as mine.\u201d
Greenberg is the former CEO of the Texas Rangers and an owner of minor-league baseball teams, including the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. He has not identified others who are interested in being in the ownership group, but has traveled to Raleigh often to talk to potential investors.
\u201cWe’re still very much in the process,\u201d Greenberg said, \u201cand it hasn’t been sold yet, and we’ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Similarity rank: 2.1<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: -0.9<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

TW posts: 8<\/div>\n

TW reposts: 0<\/div>\n

TW likes: 0<\/div>\n

TW sentiment: 0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n