The list of businessmen looking into a possible purchase of the Chicago Cubs continues to grow.
Illinois native and University of Illinois graduate Michael Tokarz, a 17-year Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. veteran who is now chairman and portfolio manager of publicly traded MVC Capital Inc., is the latest to surface as a potential bidder for Tribune Co.’s major league baseball team, sources said.
The Chicago-based media company, whose assets include the Chicago Tribune, put the Cubs on the block in April as part of its deal with Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell to take the company private.
MVC Capital, based in Purchase, N.Y., provides debt and equity to companies in a variety of industries, and Tokarz has been in town this week partly to introduce HuaMei Capital Co., in which MVC owns a 20 percent stake.
At a news conference Tuesday to mark the launch of HuaMei, the Tribune asked Tokarz about his involvement in a potential Cubs bid. He declined to discuss the topic, but didn’t deny it.
“I made a promise that today is HuaMei. So if it’s all right with you, I can talk to you some other day,” said Tokarz, who recently gave $7.5 million to the University of Illinois. “My lawyers tell me I’m not supposed to be saying anything other than [about] HuaMei today.”
Thirty percent of HuaMei is owned by its two founders: Leo Melamed, chairman emeritus of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and former U.S. Sen. Adlai Stevenson III.
Asked whether he was part of any group bidding for the Cubs, Melamed referred questions to Tokarz, with the futures industry pioneer saying his role in any pursuit of the club would be “incidental.”
After the event, the Tribune asked Stevenson whether he has considered joining the possible bid by Tokarz.
“I don’t know yet,” Stevenson replied. Asked about the make-up of the group, he noted that Tokarz might be trying to get an institution involved.
Sources also said part of the potential Cubs group is HuaMei director Phillip Goldstick, a former Illinois legislator and government adviser and chairman of G Equity Investment Group Ltd. At the event Tuesday, he declined to comment on Cubs matters.
The group would face stiff competition for the Cubs.
John Canning, chief executive of Chicago-based private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC and an 11 percent owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, would be the controlling partner of one group, sources have said. Also interested in the team are Internet billionaire Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team, and Omaha’s Ricketts family, which is worth an estimated $2.3 billion.
Tokarz is on the board of managers of Illinois Ventures, a University of Illinois venture capital fund. He’s also chairman of a related private-equity fund. In addition, he’s the chairman-elect and serves on the board of the University of Illinois Foundation.
“I’m from Illinois. I was born here,” he told the Tribune on Tuesday.
During his tenure at private-equity megafirm KKR, where he served as general partner, he participated in numerous leveraged buyouts, financings, restructurings and sales.
Tokarz also serves as chairman for Walter Industries Inc., a New York Stock Exchange-listed company that produces coal and operates a mortgage financing and home-building business.
He also serves on numerous boards, including insurance concern Conseco Inc., Northbrook-based Idex Corp. and Baltic Motors Corp. in Latvia, as well as companies in Russia, the United Kingdom and Tatarstan.
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byerak@tribune.com
