Tom Ricketts is looking for other Cubs fans with deep pockets.
Ricketts, a Chicago investment banker who is leading his family’s pursuit to buy the team from Tribune Co., is seeking investors to help him finance his $900 million bid, according to sources involved in the transaction.
He would prefer local investors who want to spend at least $25 million, sources said. Ricketts hopes to raise at least $100 million to reduce the amount the family has to borrow from banks to pay for the team, Wrigley Field and related broadcast assets.
For the first time since Tribune Co. bought the Cubs in 1981, Chicagoans can participate in the ownership of one of the highest-profile teams in baseball.
However, his proposal, first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business, comes with strings attached. An investor would receive a security known as preferred stock, which would pay a fixed rate of return of 6.5 percent, but would not participate in any future appreciation of the team.
Holders of preferred shares also would not have any voting rights and at most would serve on an advisory board; the Ricketts family would run the team, sources said. But Ricketts is offering perks, such as front-row seats, to entice potential investors. Through a spokesman, he declined to comment.
Sources say Ricketts has received positive feedback about the concept. But one investor who listened to the pitch came away unimpressed.
“I don’t want to invest that much and get 6.5 percent today,” said the person who wanted to remain anonymous. “You’re not really owning the team, so why would you do it?”
Since Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune and RedEye, selected the Ricketts family in January to purchase the team, negotiations have taken longer than expected.
Sources said the family, like many companies, is finding it difficult to secure bank financing in one of the worst economies in decades. Sources on both sides said they remain confident that a deal will get done.
