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Penguins owners looking to sell minority stake in team, per report
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01/28/2025 07:00 AM
The Fenway Sports Group is looking to sell part of the team while retaining controlling ownership, according to an ESPN report.
There could be a new owner involved in the Penguins going forward.
The Fenway Sports Group wants to "explore selling a minority stake" in the Penguins this week, according to ESPN's Emily Kaplan and Kevin Weekes.
FSG hasn't yet decided how much of the team they want to sell, but the ownership group plans to retain a controlling stake in the team, according to Kaplan and Weekes.
Kaplan and Weekes noted that any sale would have to be approved by the NHL Board of Governors before it becomes official, but that the potential minority stake sale "would not be viewed as unusual" given the influx of private equity already coming into NHL teams.
Fenway owns multiple sports entities including the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC. Other FSG properties include the Red Sox's Fenway Park, NASCAR team RFK racing, and the networks NESN and SportsNet Pittsburgh.
After saying in fall 2022 they were open to selling shares in Liverpool, FSG sold a minority stake in the Premier League club in September 2023.
That sale, which was made to the New York investment firm Dynasty Equity, reportedly brought "at least" $100 million into the franchise, per the Associated Press.
Fenway would hope any potential sale of a partial stake in the Penguins would similarly bring new equity into the franchise.
The Penguins were worth an estimated $1.75 billion in 2024, a 49 percent increase from the team's $1.175 billion in 2023, according to Forbes' Justin Teitelbaum and Brett Knight.
The Pens already have private equity groups with stakes in the team, Sportico's Brendan Coffey reported last June. Arctos, which also owns stakes in the New Jersey Devils, Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning, and RedBird Capital are both already invested in the team through partial ownership of FSG, per Coffey.
FSG purchased a controlling stake in the Penguins from Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle in November 2021 for $900 million. Lemieux and Burkle remain minority owners in the team.