TWG Global, the holding company of Dodgers owner Mark Walter, issued a statement Wednesday morning defending the record $12.5 billion valuation agreement to sell the Lakers to Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner, along with rejecting allegations of financial wrongdoing.
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In the statement, TWG Global reiterated the notion from Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten last week that the Dodgers are not for sale despite the federal government’s investigation into Walter and the allegations that his insurance companies did not properly disclose transactions between companies he owns.
“There is no victim here,” the statement reads. “No one has been harmed, and no one has claimed they were harmed.”
When Walter agreed to sell the Lakers to Iger and Kushner on Aug. 12, Bloomberg reported that the sale of the Lakers would help Walter pay down loans and would “accelerate” the effort. Since then, multiple reports emerged last week that Walter was considering selling his stakes in Chelsea, the English Premier League soccer team.
TWG says that it “is not looking to sell its sports assets at “fire sale” prices to raise capital for its insurance operations.”
When Walter agreed to sell the Lakers two weeks ago, ESPN reported that the deal quickly came together without an outside bidding process. On Friday, Kasten called Walter’s sale of the Lakers an “extraordinary opportunity, which he took.”
“Regarding the proposed sale of the Los Angeles Lakers for $12.5 billion, Mr. Walter was approached by Josh Kushner and his team about this transaction and the agreement represents a 25% premium to the price paid by Mr. Walter less than a year ago (and an even higher premium to the $5.0 billion valuation Mr. Walter paid in 2021) – hardly a “fire sale,” the statement released by TWG on Wednesday reads.
Late last week, after already holding a press conference after the Lakers’ sale a week prior, Kasten held a scrum with the media to decry worries over the Dodgers also being sold.
“The Dodgers are not being sold,” Kasten said Friday. “They’re not gonna be sold. They’re not for sale. There’s no process that has been started to sell it, period. We are planning only to win.”
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Additional reporting by the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and The Athletic has continued to shine a light on Walter’s insurance companies, TWG Global itself and the relationship between Walter’s finances and the Dodgers. Even the Dodgers television network, Spectrum SportsNet LA, has its debt held by insurance companies of Walter and Todd Boehly, a co-owner of the Dodgers and Lakers.
“I know nothing involving the Dodgers is part of the investigation,” Kasten said Friday. “Again, some things even that you’ve asserted today, I’m promising you, when it’s over, you’re going to realize are being mischaracterized. You don’t have to trust me, but I’m telling you.”
The statement defend the original financing of the Dodgers, when Guggenheim Baseball Management bought the franchise for $2.15 billion, saying that the “transaction was subject to significant scrutiny and complied with all rules and regulations that govern the purchase of Major League Baseball teams.”
When it comes to the Dodgers ability to continue to pay its players, financing the team’s payroll isn’t an issue, according to the statement.
“The Dodgers have the highest revenue in baseball, and it significantly exceeds the team’s obligations to its players,” the statement reads.
The TWG statement adds that Walter and his “partners continuously get interest from prospective buyers and co-investors in their sports assets and, as responsible owners and investors, they consider all legitimate offers when they are received.” Additionally, the statement claims that TWG is not “exiting its stake in the Cadillac Formula 1 team or any other part of TWG Motorsports.”
TWG did not issue a comment on Walter’s co-ownership of the Sparks or his controlling ownership of the recently launched Professional Women’s Hockey League.
“One thing – we’re all certain about this – the sports portfolio is going to remain intact,” Kasten said Friday. “It’s important to Mark. I can’t tell you how important the Dodgers are to Mark.”
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Staff writer Bill Plunkett contributed to this article.