The Liverpool owner continues to grow his club portfolio. Fenway Sports Group (FSG), owner of the British club and the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB), has acquired a majority stake in the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). The operation is valued at 845 million dollars, as reported SportsProMedia.
After purchase, Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, owners of the hockey entity since 1999, will continue to form part of the club’s shareholding, although they will no longer have the absolute majority of the shares.
American businessmen bought the club for $ 107 million 21 years ago after bailing out the franchise from possible bankruptcy and elevated to a three-time Stanley Cup champion. During his tenure, the PPG Paint Arena, the pavilion where the Penguins matches are played, has also been built.
Fenway was valued at $ 7.35 billion after increasing capital by $ 750 million in March
“We will work diligently to continue to build on the Penguins’ game and championship tradition,” said Tom Werner, president of Fenway Sports.
In this way, Fenway completes its intention to continue acquiring clubs, for which, at the beginning of March, the company carried out a capital increase of 750 million dollars. The RedBird fund (which took 11% of the capital) and LeBron James entered it, valuing the company at 7,350 million dollars.
Bosto-based FSG was founded in 2001 as New England Sports Ventures (Nesv) when John W. Henry joined forces with Tom Werner, Les Otten, The New York Times Company and other investors to bid for the Red Sox. Nesv formally announced its name change to Fenway Sports Group in March 2011. According to the latest published data, the company had a turnover of $ 12.5 million in 2020.
