A $20 BILLION PLAN THAT INCLUDES THE LA DODGERS IS SAID TO BE AIMED AT HELPING INSURERS IF CREDIT MARKETS SOUR: WSJ
The CEO of Guggenheim Partners and his business associates are pledging more than $20 billion of their personal wealth to backstop insurers associated with the purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers, if those firms run into financial troubles, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The highly unusual arrangement, detailed by The Journal in a published report on Saturday, comes six years after regulators questioned an arrangement under which the insurers contributed money that allowed Mark Walter and a group of co-investors to buy the professional baseball team back in 2012, for what was a record-breaking $2.15 billion. The insurers provided at least $300 million to help Walter and several co-investors buy the team, according to the report.
What makes the situation even more interesting is that Walter’s associates included Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson and Guggenheim’s ex-president Todd Boehly, the publication reported. Both men have ownership stakes in the Dodgers.
In what S&P Global Ratings senior analyst Deep Banerjee told The WSJ was “an unusual concept,” the group is using a structure called Safe Harbor to provide the funds. The Journal could find no insurance filings referencing Safe Harbor, and Guggenheim declined to provide information on how it was valued…