The owner of L.A. Live and Staples Center has begun the process of trying to sell his mammoth sports and entertainment holdings, the Reuters news service reported Tuesday.
The wire service reported that billionaire Phil Anschutz hopes to garner bids as high as $10 billion for his Anschutz Entertainment Group, which just two weeks ago won approval to build a downtown football stadium in Los Angeles.
The company planned to send letters detailing the company's worth and other information associated with a potential sale to 25 potential buyers on Monday, Reuters reported.
The Denver mogul’s decision to sell his company came as a shock to many in Los Angeles, coming as it did on the verge of the City Council’s approval of a deal worth more than $1 billion to build the stadium and attempt to lure an NFL football team to the city.
Under the terms of a deal approved on Sept. 28, AEG would be required to put a 40% equity stake into the huge development project that would include remodeling the Los Angeles Convention Center and building the stadium.
The company promised that any new owners would honor that part of the deal, and city officials insisted that they had not put the city’s strained coffers at risk by approving it with a sale of AEG looming.
Just days before the vote, AEG said it was putting itself up for sale and hiring Blackstone Advisory Partners to help facilitate the process.
When the sale was announced, some experts estimated that AEG was worth around $7 billion.
