By Gerry Dulac
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Stanley Druckenmiller© REUTERS/Peter Morgan
Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller is not interested in any type of minority partnership with Steelers chairman Dan Rooney and is involved in negotiations to purchase the ownership shares of the four Rooney brothers with one purpose: To become majority owner of the Steelers and keep the National Football League franchise in Pittsburgh, ideally with Dan Rooney and his son, Art II, at the helm.
According to a source who has intimate knowledge of the New York hedge fund manager's dealings with the Rooney brothers, Mr. Druckenmiller will not get caught up in a high-stakes bidding war to purchase the shares necessary to become majority owner if Goldman Sachs & Co., the Wall Street investment bank that is serving as financial adviser for the Rooney brothers, opens the process to public bid.
If that happens, Mr. Druckenmiller will immediately withdraw his offer to the Rooney brothers to purchase each of the 16 percent shares they own in the Steelers franchise, the source said.
Mr. Druckenmiller, chairman of Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Capital Management who has an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion, is involved solely in financial discussion with the four Rooney brothers -- Art Jr., Tim, Patrick and John -- and is not part of any financial team being constructed by Dan Rooney and his son, Art II, the team's president, the source said.
However, Mr. Druckenmiller has had a number of conversations with Dan Rooney about him remaining in control of the franchise if Mr. Druckenmiller becomes majority owner -- a prospect Dan Rooney and his son are trying to avoid. They have retained Morgan Stanley in New York and PNC Bank, Downtown, to acquire additional funding in an attempt to keep controlling interest of the franchise where it has been for the past 75 years -- in the Rooney name.
Neither Dan Rooney nor his son could be reached for comment last night.
According to the source, though, Mr. Druckenmiller is "not getting any sense" that the deal will not work out in his favor, adding that it makes more financial sense for the four Rooney brothers to sell their entire shares rather than sell a portion and retain some small minority investment in the team.
But, if that's what they want to do, Mr. Druckenmiller would be "happy to accommodate them," the source added, so long as he would still be able to gain controlling interest of the franchise.
Mr. Druckenmiller "has all the respect in the world for Dan Rooney," the source said, adding that he considers the Steelers chairman to be "nothing but a first-class individual."
Mr. Druckenmiller, 55, an Oakmont Country Club member, is an ardent Steelers fan whose lifelong dream is to own the franchise. However, the source said he does not want to be portrayed as a Mark Cuban-type owner merely because he painted his face black and gold at a Steelers game. Mr. Druckenmiller did that once or twice for his daughters, the source said, because he wanted them to take an interest in the Steelers, not the hometown New York Giants where the Druckenmillers live.
He said Mr. Druckenmiller knows his responsibilities would change if he became the Steelers owner.
Gerry Dulac can be reached at gdulac@post-gazette.com.
First published on July 16, 2008 at 12:00 am
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