While a potential sale to Chuck Greenberg has hit some roadblocks, the Carolina Hurricanes say that there are other potential buyers in the mix.
Several months ago, it was learned that Greenberg was seeking to lead an investment group that would purchase the Hurricanes from owner Peter Karmanos Jr. It was reported shortly thereafter that the sale price was around $500 million, but Karmanos more recently expressed doubt that Greenberg would be unable to raise the necessary funds to complete the purchase.
Hurricanes president Don Waddell now says that there are other prospective buyers in the mix, one of which is Tom Dundon, the managing partner of Dundon Capital Partners LLC, and CEO and president of Dundon Capital Acquisition Corp. Waddell also said that the club’s non-binding letter of intent with Greenberg has expired. Greenberg, for his part, indicates that he is still interested in purchasing the club, but has had difficulty obtaining enough funds to buy the Hurricanes. More from The Herald-Sun:
“The Greenberg thing had been ongoing, as we all know,” Waddell said. “It has slowed down. We haven’t heard back from Chuck in a while. We believe he is actively trying to find investors.
“But there are other groups that have now stepped forward and taking hard looks at the franchise. Obviously, Tom Dundon’s name came out today, a Dallas businessperson who has a lot of interest.”
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.
“In late September, we had made a lot of progress getting the equity, but we weren’t all the way there,” Greenberg said. “Pete 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.”
Karmanos purchased the club in 1994, when it was still the Hartford Whalers. He relocated the franchise to North Carolina for the 1997-98 season, making a short stop in Greensboro before the Hurricanes’ PNC Arena (then known as Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena) opened in 1999.
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