It’s neither an industry nor public secret anymore that Mikhail Prokhorov’s listening to offers for the majority ownership of the Brooklyn Nets. While it doesn’t appear that any realistic offers have hit the market, there’s seemingly at least one man with the capital to make it happen who’s shown an interest.
Scott Soshnick of Business Journal, who broke the story last week that Prokhorov secured wealth management firm Evercore to broker a Nets deal, reported that representatives for 58-year-old hedge fund manager Steve Cohen met with Evercore about a potential deal:
BREAKING: Billionaire Steve Cohen's reps have met with Evercore about buying @BrooklynNets, sources say. Story coming #sportsbiz #NBA
— Scott Soshnick (@soshnick) January 17, 2015
Soshnick later reported that a spokesman for Cohen said he had no interest in the team:
Spokesman for Steve Cohen's Point72 says billionaire has no interest in the @BrooklynNets. His reps had met with seller #SportsBiz
— Scott Soshnick (@soshnick) January 17, 2015
Cohen is the founder and owner of Point72 Asset Management, a hedge fund firm located in Stamford, Connecticut. is worth approximately $10.3 billion, just a smidge more than Prokhorov’s $9 billion, according to Forbes’s real-time wealth tracker. He is a minority owner in the New York Mets baseball team.
He reportedly had to pay a $1.2 billion fine through his company (then known as SAC Capital) in 2013 after pleading guilty to insider trading violations.
Prokhorov owns 80 percent of the team, which he bought in conjunction with 45 percent of Barclays Center for $223 million in May 2010, agreeing to also assume the team’s debt and operating losses at the time.
