March 15, 2010
Prokhorov Urges Russia to Buy Greece, Commandeer Olympic Flame
Bloomberg News
by Yuriy Humber
Proko, you're killing us.
Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire who sold most of his assets before the global financial crisis, used his first appearance on a comedy show to make fun of Greece’s budget woes, saying the country’s rich history makes it an attractive acquisition target.
“I suggest we buy Greece,” Prokhorov said on the Spotlight Paris Hilton television show on March 13.
NoLandGrab: Greece, with a national debt of 300 billion Euros, representing something like 120% of the country's GDP, is still likely in better financial shape than the New Jersey Nets, which Prokhorov really is buying.
Posted by eric at 12:08 PM
March 3, 2010
Russian Playboy Mikhail Prokhorov Loses $53M Mansion Deposit
ABC News
by Alexander Marquardt
Guess he'll have to settle for Daniel Goldstein's home instead.
Anywhere in the world, $53 million is considered a hefty sum for a house. For one of Russia's most prominent oligarchs that's just a 10 percent deposit, and he just lost it.
A French court ruled Monday that nickel tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov would not get back the deposit he put down on a sprawling, $530 million villa on the French Riviera. He backed out of the purchase in 2008 as the global financial crisis gathered steam.
"We have lost," Prokhorov's lawyer Jean-Pierre Gastaud said after the court in the southern city of Nice made its decision. Gastaud said he would urge his client to appeal.
Prokhorov, who is 44 and a billionaire many times over, is still shopping. An avid 6'9" tall basketball fan, he is awaiting approval by the NBA for his purchase of a controlling interest in the New Jersey Nets.
Related coverage...
The Star-Ledger, Prospective NJ Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov loses $53 million deposit on world's highest-priced home
The same day, a New York judge ruled against opponents of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, putting the Nets a step closer to moving to a new home there in 2012.
Posted by eric at 2:30 PM
New Nets owner lost $54M on deposit for French Riviera mansion
The NY Post
By Charles Bremner
Apparently Atlantic Yards isn't the first misguided real estate deal made by the man who is on deck to enter into partnership on the megaproject and to purchase Bruce Ratner's flagging NJ Nets.
A lump sum of $53.7 million will buy a sumptuous mansion on the French Riviera. Russia's richest man lost that amount -- and a lot of face -- when a court refused to return his deposit on the grandest villa of them all.
Mikhail Prokhorov, 44, a playboy-magnate worth nearly $9 billion who last year purchased the New Jersey Nets, was told that he could not reclaim the funds that he put down on the Villa Leopolda, a cliff-top property that he promised to buy in 2008. He backed out of the record sale, for $529 million, early last year after the recession struck the minerals and metals business on which his fortune is based.
...
The decision was the second blow by French justice against Prokhorov, who also owns two chalets in the Alpine resort of Courchevel. In January 2007 he was arrested and detained for four days on suspicion of flying in prostitutes for a party in the properties. He was released without charge but Moscow media depicted the incident as a deliberate insult against Russia.
NoLandGrab: Though Prokhorov is set to overpay for the privilege of owning a piece of the NBA, hard-core Nets fans are salivating at the prospect of an owner who has a history of tossing around buckets of cash.
Posted by lumi at 5:25 AM
February 25, 2010
A fan-friendly solution to fix the NBA
ESPN.com
by Bill Simmons
In the NBA, the owners are headed for a similar, "Wait a second, were we doing this the right away?" realization, if it hasn't happened already. The current system doesn't fly. The salary cap and luxury threshold ebb and flow with yearly revenue -- so if revenue drops, teams have less to spend -- only there's no ebb and flow with the salaries. When the revenue dips like it did these past two seasons, the owners are screwed.
They arrived at this specific point after salaries ballooned over the past 15 years -- not for superstars, but for complementary players who don't sell tickets, can't carry a franchise, and, in a worst-case scenario, operate as a sunk cost. These players get overpaid for one reason: Most teams throw money around like drunken sailors at a strip joint. When David Stern says, "We're losing $400 million this season," he really means, "We stupidly kept overpaying guys who weren't worth it, and then the economy turned, and now we're screwed."
...For instance, when I was in Dallas for All-Star Weekend, I asked an extremely wealthy person the following question: "Why haven't you bought an NBA team yet?"
His answer: "Because they're still overvalued. Anyone who buys in right now is doing it for ego only. That's why the league grabbed the Russian's [Mikhail Prokhorov's] money [for the New Jersey Nets] so quickly. He has a big ego and deep pockets, and he didn't know any better. He just wanted in.
Posted by eric at 10:29 AM
February 24, 2010
Putin Questions Dealings of Russian Oligarchs
The New York Times
by Andrew E. Kramer
The business dealings of four of the super-wealthy Russians known as oligarchs slipped into dangerous territory Wednesday when they were upbraided by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin in a televised speech.
Presiding over a meeting on the electricity industry, Mr. Putin said the executives had undertaken to invest in power plants some years back but were now trying to renege on the obligations, citing diminished demand for electricity because of the financial crisis.
...Mr. Putin had sharp words for Mr. Prokhorov, one of Russia’s richest men whose business interests extend outside of the country as well.
A basketball enthusiast, Mr. Prokhorov agreed last fall to buy a controlling stake in the New Jersey Nets from the developer Bruce C. Ratner, and move them to a planned new stadium at Mr. Ratner’s Atlantic Yards site in Brooklyn.
...At issue are investments by the oligarchs in electrical generating companies. Under the terms of the privatization, they were to invest in building power plants or refurbishing existing sites with more fuel efficient turbines, Mr. Putin said. The men could be fined if they fail to invest.
Then, in a comment ominous for its echoes of the arrest and imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man as owner of the now bankrupt Yukos oil company, Mr. Putin said causes may arise to involve the prosecutors general in this dispute.
“There is a possibility,” Mr. Putin said, “especially if we are talking about technical safety” at the power plant sites.
NoLandGrab: In Russia, Community Benefits Agreements are very enforceable.
Posted by eric at 6:32 PM
February 17, 2010
Future NJ Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov avoids questions about basketball, bemoans fate of Russian biathlon team
The Star-Ledger
by Dave D'Alessandro
Dave D'Alessandro flies all the way to Vancouver to interview Mikhail Prokhorov, only to discover that a Nets victory is more likely than a Proky scoop.
“I hoped to get good results here. For the time being, we are not very lucky,” the oligarch said in careful but inexpert English, after his women failed to medal in the 10-kilometer pursuit.
The future Nets owner is also the president of the Russian Biathlon Union, so we played along.
...So this made it a bad morning for Mikky. He wanted a medal. Some wrote that he demanded a medal. In one interview, the author inferred that heads would roll on the coaching staff if the team didn’t repeat its recent success it had in a competition in Slovenia.
“In our (best) discipline, the relay, we should sure will get a medal,” Prokhorov predicted.
By now, you can tell that we hadn’t a clue how to break the ice with a billionaire. Language was an issue — our fault, we too often talk in idioms. So we had a cordial but mostly pointless discussion for 15 minutes, standing just off this course carved into the middle of the Coast Mountains, because as soon as he heard our name and affiliation, up went the preconditions:
“No basketball. I cannot comment. The lawyers told me I cannot speak,” he said. “As soon as deal is ... closed, I have summit.”
NoLandGrab: The failures of the Russian biathletes should prepare Prokhorov well for ownership of the Nets.
Posted by eric at 9:45 PM
February 1, 2010
Prokhorov Meeting with Thorn, Yormark at All-Star Break
NetsDaily
The all-Nets-all-the-time blog rounds up recent media reports on Mikhail Prokhorov's pending purchase of the team from the worst owner in NBA history.
Beat writers have been tracking the progress of the Nets sale and although there’s nothing definitive on when the NBA Board of Governors will approve Mikhail Prokhorov as owner–or whether that’s the final step to put him in charge, it looks like the first planning meetings on the team’s future will take place during All-Star Weekend, Feb 12-14. Rod Thorn and Brett Yormark will participate. The two first met Prokhrov in October. Among the issues: whether Thorn will continue as president of basketball operations.
Posted by eric at 12:16 PM
January 28, 2010
Nets notes: Mikhail Prokhorov must wait for majority ownership
Bergen Record
Mikhail Prokhorov is expected to take over majority ownership of the Nets in the first quarter of 2010, but it probably won’t be until the very end of the first quarter.
Multiple sources said the Russian billionaire may not take control of the team from Bruce Ratner until March. It’s possible it could go into the second quarter, early April, depending on when everyone and everything is cleared from the Atlantic Yards site in Brooklyn - the "vacant possessions" condition that needs to be met for the sale to go through.
Prokhorov also needs to be approved by the NBA’s Board of Governors, which could happen next month.
NoLandGrab: Given the history of Atlantic Yards — remember that the Nets were supposed to open the 2006-2007 season in Broolyn — we have a feeling Mr. Prokhorov may be waiting a lot longer than that.
Also...
NetsDaily, Prokhorov Won’t Become Owner Til Spring
Posted by eric at 11:44 AM
January 25, 2010
NBA Approval of Prokhorov “Days Away”
NetsDaily
The NBA Board of Governors is “days away” from approving Mikhail Prokhorov as the Nets’ new owner, according to reports. There’s also confirmation of a month-old report that the Russian billionaire has agreed to throw another $100 million into Barclays Center.
...Now, there’s word from inside the franchise that Prokhorov has indeed committed to buying more than two-thirds of the infrastructure bonds–$100 million worth. The remainder will reportedly be marketed by Forest City Enterprises, the Cleveland-based company that is currently the team’s biggest shareholder at 23%. FCE is controlled by Bruce Ratner’s extended family.
The manner in which the debt is structured will also give Prokhorov effective control over the arena and in fact could give him actual control in one (unlikely) circumstance.
As Project Finance wrote in December, “If Prokhorov buys the subordinated [infrastructure] bonds, which are serviced through lower quality and more uncertain cashflows, and the project experiences a sustained period of weak financial performance, then in the event of a default on the subdebt, he would take control of the project.”
Critics have noted the consequences of such a default. Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report wrote, “The upshot, though, is that the enormous state effort to get the project going–the Blight Study, the use of eminent domain, the tax-exempt bonds, etc.–could turn out to provide the most significant benefits to Russia’s richest man.”
Posted by eric at 9:08 AM
January 12, 2010
Did Oleg Deripaska Really Order the Murder of a Journalist?
Robert Amsterdam
Though it has taken a couple of weeks, the news of the attempted hit on Helmer and new allegations that Rusal and Oleg Deripaska were behind it, have gone viral. On Jan. 9th, the Australian (where Helmer is originally from) published a new angle, which indicated that the attack was averted only because the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared intel with the journalist that the hit was coming his way. The Australian article got picked up by Dave D'Alessandro of the Star-Ledger over the weekend (who probably has interest in the news as related to NJ Nets buyer Mikhail Prokhorov), and since then the it has been picked up by the highly visible political blogger Matt Taibi, an old friend of Helmer.
...Here's why the story is still so weird. So if nobody knows who controls Rusal at this point, or if the company is actually under the executive stewardship of the Kremlin at this point, than how can we be so sure that they were the ones behind this bumbling assassination job? Why wouldn't such a wealthy business group have paid off the federal security service and local police with bribes like they did in the Politkovskaya job? There seemed to be a suspiciously high level of evidence available to pin this on the company ... I mean seriously, who goes out to do something like that and carries a dossier with the company's name on it?? Furthermore, could the timing have been any worse?
Something just doesn't quite add up here, and perhaps it is just the fact that we have gotten so used to murdered journalists in Russia, that this one foiled attempt didn't even make the headlines for several weeks.
Posted by eric at 8:58 PM
Back to Background Reviews in a Sort of “I told You So” Way: Developments With Respect to Prokhorov
Noticing New York
With reports out of Moscow alleging a possible attempted hit on a muckraking Australian journalist by employees of a private-security firm connected to a company which is 18.5% owned by pending Nets owner and Russian billionaire oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov, Michael D.D. White revisits his recommendation that governmental entities in New York might want to be a wee bit more discerning in their public-private partnerships.
We previously wrote on the subject of public agency background checks with respect to approving project principals and whether the public agencies bringing us the Atlantic Yards mega-boondoggle (the Empire State Development Corporation and the Metropolitan Transportation Agency with the assistance of the City of New York) would try to sidestep a background review and approval for:
Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov as a new proposed owner of the Nets basketball team, the heavily subsidized arena the team is supposed to play in, as well as the rest of the Atlantic Yards project which right now is nothing more than a multi-decade option to monopolize the development potential of 22 acres of valuable Brooklyn real estate. . .
We pretty much predicted that the agencies would engage in such sidestepping, given the hellbent determination of those agencies to continue with Atlantic Yards no matter how many project negatives emerge and accumulate. Sidestep they did!
...Why might our ask-no-questions Atlantic Yards-loving public agencies now be regretting their decision not to do a Prokhorov background check? The latest news surfacing that an investigator doing a background review on Mr. Prokhorov would want to look into is this as phrased by Atlantic Yards Report:
a chilling charge surfacing in Moscow raises questions about Prokhorov's business interests and an alleged effort to silence a journalist.
Posted by eric at 2:19 PM
January 11, 2010
Russian intrigue; company partly-owned by Prokhorov said to be implicated in plot to kill journalist
Atlantic Yards Report
It's looked like the purchase of a majority interest in the Nets by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov was a walk. Maybe so, but a chilling charge surfacing in Moscow raises questions about Prokhorov's business interests and an alleged effort to silence a journalist.
It hasn't yet caused public ripple effects in the approval process being conducted by the National Basketball Association, but it certainly deserves scrutiny.
Posted by eric at 10:28 AM
January 10, 2010
A Bigger Gun Problem for NBA Commish Stern? Alleged Plot To Kill Moscow Journalist
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
Something this wacky — and deadly serious — could only transpire in Moscow.
Perhaps it's time for the National Basketball Association to rethink its vetting process.
What will NBA Commissioner David Stern and the NBA Board Governors (not to mention Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Paterson) think of the following, which, if true, pales in comparison with Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas' offenses...
Yet-to-be approved Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has an 18.5% stake in RuSal, the world's largest aluminimum company. RuSal is allegedly involved in either an extremly frightening intimidation plot or a straight out plot to kill Moscow-based, independent Austrailian journalist John Helmer.
The story is in the The Weekend Austrailian and has been picked up in the US, first, by Star Ledger sports reporter and columnist Dave D'Alessandro.
David Stern should do some answering...
Here's D'Alessandro's story, which includes the entirety of The Weekend Australian's piece.
The Star-Ledger, Weekend Reading Assignment: A Russian Tale
They tried to kill John Helmer this week.
If you don’t know who John Helmer is, you should take the time to find out: He’s the journalist residing in Moscow who has been a pebble in Mikhail Prokhorov’s shoe since oligarchs have been collecting their billions under the protection of a corrupt, Fascist state.
In other words, he’s the kind of journalist who turns up dead once a month or so inside Putin’s Russia.
Anyway, Helmer – a fascinating and talented fellow, if not a fair bit over the top in his pursuit of truths – claims that the RuSal aluminum giant wants him dead, that the company's moronic hit men tried to act upon it at his home on Dec. 28, and that he has very convincing proof of a connection.
And yes, if that corporate name rings a bell, Prokhorov still owns 18.5 percent of RuSal.
Here’s the link and the jump page, but the entire text is pasted below.
You’ll only find this story in the Aussie papers, because it’s being held off the web to protect against English libel threats. The only thing RuSal has more than money is lawyers, as its spokesman states plainly after the jump page:
Tip-off saves Australian journalist from Moscow plot
THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN
Jan. 9, 2010THREE armed men have been arrested outside the home of an Australian freelance journalist in Moscow just a week after the federal government warned him it had confidential information he was in danger.
The journalist, John Helmer, said he might have been targeted because of his aggressive reporting on powerful Russian businessmen, including 42-year-old billionaire Oleg Deripaska.
The [Australian] Department of Foreign Affairs has refused to tell Helmer what information led it to fear for his safety, and appears not to have provided any such information to Russian police investigating the case.
A spokesman said last night the department “cannot provide any further details on the source of this threat information (because) it is long-standing policy of the Australian government not to comment on intelligence matters.”
Helmer said Russian police who interrogated the three arrested men told him the men said they worked for a private security company that had been acting on behalf of Rusal, the Deripaska-controlled giant, which has major interests in the Australian aluminium and bauxite industry through holdings in Queensland.
Helmer said the three men were found to be carrying a dossier on him that included photos of him and his wife, and a sketch of the layout of his apartment building.
It also had the name Rusal typed in the top corner of its first page.
Click here to keep reading.
NoLandGrab: Bet Sandy Annabi's glad that they don't deal with obstacles in Yonkers the same way they deal with them in Moscow.
Posted by eric at 7:41 PM
January 4, 2010
Nets owner hosting pal Putin
NY Post, Page Six
Soon-to-be New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov is hosting Russian leader Vladimir Putin at his $30 million French Alps chalet as a thank you for officially clearing his name.
The billionaire Russian invited Putin to stay at his chalet in Courchevel after the Russian prime minister secured an apology from French authorities for dragging Prokhorov's name into a prostitution scandal.
Now Prokhorov -- Russia's richest man -- and Putin have returned to celebrate in the same resort where the false claims were made, and to ski on mountains that will be closed to the public amid tight security.
A source told Page Six: "Putin arrived on Saturday with an entourage of 100 people. He is staying at Prokhorov's chalet, which is surrounded by a ring of tight security.
"Prokhorov invited him as a thank you for officially clearing his name. It is intended to be a very secret and private visit."
Our source continued: "Putin is also a very keen skier, and entire runs and lifts will be closed for him. He and Prokhorov are so close that Putin is rumored to be lining him up for a political role. At the very least, we expect to be seeing Putin on the sidelines at a Nets game."
NoLandGrab: That's right, folks, the Empire State Development Corporation will be using eminent domain to seize private property in Prospect Heights for the benefit of Russia's richest man, a close pal of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. We still might take Putin over Prokhorov's pal Bruce Ratner, however.
Just wondering, though, if, when we're "seeing Putin on the sidelines at a Nets game," Brooklyn "will be closed to the public amid tight security?"
Posted by eric at 11:50 PM
December 26, 2009
Basketball's Billionaires - Owning an NBA team during a recession is no slam-dunk.
Forbes
By Steven Bertoni
Russian industrialist Mikhail Prokhorov is trying to buy his way into the brotherhood of basketball billionaires. In September his company, Onexim Sports, announced it would pay $200 million for a majority stake in the NBA’s New Jersey Nets.
He might want to think twice before writing the check.
Over the last year, basketball’s 10 billionaire owners saw the value of their teams shed a collective $110 million as the recession and job losses punished ticket sales. Team values for the entire NBA fell 3% to an average of $363 million--the first drop in the 11 years that Forbes has calculated team valuations. (See: The Business of Basketball).
Despite the drop in value, NBA players are raking in the cash. Player costs were $2.3 billion during the 2008-09 season--up $100 million from the last year.
Prokhorov, the sports-crazy metals billionaire with a net worth of $9.5 billion as of March 2009, will get an 80% stake in the middling Nets, plus 45% ownership of team’s proposed new Brooklyn home, the Barclays Center.
The NBA could rule on the deal in early 2010. Current Nets owner, Bruce Ratner, bought the team for $300 million in 2004.
Posted by steve at 7:07 AM
December 23, 2009
Prokhorov Going After Distressed Basketball Teams and Megaprojects
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
Three Russian Tycoons Join Prokhorov in War Chest
NY TimesRussia’s richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov, intends to hook up with three other wealthy compatriots to create a joint war chest that will go after distressed banks and firms...
...and basketball teams and corrupt megaprojects.
Posted by eric at 10:00 AM
December 19, 2009
From Nickel To $200 Million To Saving Atlantic Yards
Multifamily Investor
This profile of oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov includes a description of Phase 2 of the proposed Atlantic Yards project. The ESDC, tool of developer Bruce Ratner, has said Phase 2 will take 10 years to complete, but Ratner says it will take 25.
The investment fund Onexim, headed by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, executed its agreement with Forest City Ratner to buy a 45 percent stake in Atlantic Yards — which the developer has said will cost up to $900 million — and 80 percent of the Nets. According to the underlying letter of intent, Onexim will also have an option to buy a 20 percent stake in the larger Atlantic Yards project, which calls for another 16 towers surrounding the arena over the 22-acre site. Most of these towers are slated to be residential.
Posted by steve at 7:48 AM
December 18, 2009
Russian Passes Background Check, and Vote Looms on His Bid for Nets
The New York Times
by Richard Sandomir
Mikhail D. Prokhorov has survived the N.B.A.’s background examination, helping the billionaire Russian oligarch take another step toward acquiring 80 percent of the Nets and 45 percent of the proposed Barclays Center in Brooklyn. He is said to be Russia’s richest man.
“There were multiple investigations of him by interested parties and there was nothing that was disclosed that would cause us not to move forward with his application,” N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern said Thursday.
The positive results of the vetting process were made known to the league earlier this month.
Oh, please, was there ever any doubt that Prokhorov would pass the NBA's muster? Anything short of his being a baby-killer would've made him A-OK, as finding a replacement for the current disastrous ownership regime (we mean you, Bruce Ratner) had to be Job One at the NBA.
Prokhorov must still submit all the documents required by the league’s advisory finance committee, which will then make a recommendation on his application to the Board of Governors. Stern said the league would continue to look into Prokhorov until a vote by the full ownership late next month or in early February.
Sure. Has anyone seen Stern's glasses?
He needs to be approved by 23 of the league’s 30 owners. A spokesman for Prokhorov had no comment.
The N.B.A.’s decision to make known its clearance of Prokhorov’s background came a day after his company, Onexim Sports and Entertainment Holdings, closed on the deal to pay Forest City Ratner Companies, which is developing the Barclays Center as part of the Atlantic Yards project, $200 million for his stakes in the team and the arena.
article
Related coverage...
GlobeSt.com, Ratner, Onexim Finalize Atlantic Yards Deal
Since the agreement was originally announced in late September, a couple of the hurdles facing the massive project have been cleared. The New York State Court of Appeals last month upheld a lower-court ruling that okay’d the state’s use of eminent domain to seize properties not already controlled by FCRC, and on Wednesday the state’s highest court ruled against the plaintiffs in another Atlantic Yards-related case. The lawsuit brought by State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery and others sought to annul the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s June 23 sale of property and development rights for its Vanderbilt Yard facility to FCRC. A spokesman for the group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, one of the plaintiffs, says a decision on whether to appeal the ruling hasn’t been made yet.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn Broadside: Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn Bridge Park Projects Proceed Rapidly
The other element, which won’t take place until next year, is to open the door for the 80-percent sale of the New Jersey Nets to Russian magnate Mikhail Prokhorov, a name that will probably become well known in the coming years in Brooklyn.
The rest of the financing will be a small subsidy from the city and private sector capital.
NoLandGrab: Right, what's another $130 million or so in subsidies? Those young whippersnappers can darn tootin' pay for their MetroCards. When Holt was their age, kids were working in sweatshops, not riding around on cushy buses and subways.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The View from the Cheap Seats
Nets' owner Bruce Ratner announced that an agreement has been reached with Mikhail Prokhorov regarding his stake in the Nets franchise and the proposed arena in Brooklyn. The final hurdle is approval by the remaining NBA owners who have already indicated they'd sign off on the deal. No decision has been reached on Prokhorov's request that the Nets be allowed to play with seven players on the court and shoot at a nine foot basket.
The Eagle also has Ratner's press release.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Atlantic Yards Is Not Now, and Never Was, About Affordable Housing
Russia's richest man makes it clear what Atlantic Yards is about and it ain't affordable housing.
Money-losing arena anyone?
Posted by eric at 9:56 AM
December 17, 2009
Russia's richest man a step closer to owning Nets
AP via USAToday.com
by Tom Canavan
A Russian billionaire has moved a step closer to becoming the NBA's first non-North American owner.
Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim Sports and Entertainment Holdings and the company that owns the Nets announced on Wednesday they had completed their agreement to create a partnership that would own the NBA team and develop the Atlantic Yards project in New York.
The agreement provides for the sale of 80 percent of the struggling Nets and 45 percent of a new Nets arena to Prokhorov's Onexim, subject to approval by the NBA Board of Governors.
It also includes an option for Prokhorov to acquire up to 20 percent of Atlantic Yards, which would surround the new Barclays Center arena with apartments and office towers on 22 acres in Brooklyn.
Additional coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, As interim move to Newark falls apart (for now), Prokhorov agreement to buy Nets moves ahead
Approval by the NBA is still in the offing, but is not expected to hit major roadblocks.
(DDDB reminds us that Russia's richest man is the major beneficiary of major government support; surely, as I and others have suggested, it would have been much harder to get political support for Atlantic Yards had Prokhorov been involved from the start.)
...Meanwhile, a Star-Ledger article, Deal to move NJ Nets from Meadowlands to Newark's Prudential Center falls apart, explains how the possible interim move of the Nets to The Rock has stalled under the outgoing Jon Corzine administration and must be restarted by the incoming Chris Christie administration.
...However, as the newspaper reported, the Nets are still interested in Newark.
That means they--via expected new majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov--could even pay the penalty.
Or, more likely, restart the discussions. Remember, there was once talk of preseason games in Newark, and then Nets brass said no. But after further talks, the Nets wound up playing two preseason games in the Prudential Center.
It's all negotiable.
NY Times, Russian Billionaire Moves a Step Closer to Buying the Nets
Charles V. Bagli reports:
The deal with the current owner, the developer Bruce C. Ratner, is subject to approval by the N.B.A. Board of Governors. An N.B.A. spokesman, Michael Bass, said, “We expect that the Board of Governors will vote on the application early in 2010.”
Ratner must also gain possession of the land for the arena, at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues, which is expected to happen in March.
NY1, Russian Billionaire Signs Off On Brooklyn Arena Deal
The agreement comes a day after Forest City Ratner announced that $511 million in tax-free bonds for the arena were sold.
Opponents were hoping the bond sale would fall flat and kill the project.
Last month, the New York Court of Appeals ruled the state can use eminent domain to force the sale of businesses and residences to make way for the nearly $5 billion project.
Posted by eric at 12:08 AM
December 3, 2009
Prokhorov May Be Cleared, Could Get Control of Barclays Center
NetsDaily
Adrian Wojnarowski reports Mikhail Prokhorov’s bid for the Nets should be approved sometime after Jan. 1, quoting an NBA official saying, “He’s already checked out with the league through the FBI”. But Mark Cuban says he has “no idea” when it’ll happen. Meanwhile, a finance magazine reports Prokhorov will back some of the arena bonds and if they default, he’d gain control of Barclays Center as well as the team.
Posted by eric at 2:46 PM
November 30, 2009
Nets Ownership Dictation Opens New Doors, May Modification Vendee Profile
Windows Live
We're assuming that English was not this post's first language.
Prokhorov was cited in an article last hebdomad naming this a "hostile bidding". Hostile or not, Prokhorov looks more interested in the squad as an investing vehicle, not as the typical sportswoman proprietor ( IE Grade Cuban, Steinbrenner, Can H,etc. ). The squad is hemorrhaging money, Bruce Ratner 's immovable company is holds founder under the economical pressure, and merely like many other American corps the Nets ( and its current ownership ) necessitated a fresh extract of cash to keep operations and hold the dreaming of travelling to Brooklyn live. The trade looks to be more Risk capital than typical squad ownership dealing, an outsider investor rendering running cash exchange for equity.
While the conference is likelily excited about the new international frontiers that go available with a Russian proprietor, could it but be that most American businessman hold shied forth from the hazard and low one-year gainfulness of sports squad ownership, and VC type investings in the wide marketplace hold virtually vanishes in that economy, squeezing Ratner to turn elsewhere.
Funding the trade with upward front cash, highly rare in what I 've seen of these type of minutes, farther supports the dealing of more VC investing than new ownership squad. Ratner apparently remains in the icon and gets new cash flowing to proceed the Brooklyn venture and will now share in the top with his gent investor, in the procedure disintermediating himself from the squad, which he holded small or no involvement in in the first place.
Posted by eric at 11:31 AM
November 17, 2009
An Open Letter to the People's Billionaire, Mikhail Prokhorov
Huffington Post
Before the richest man in Russia actually goes through with the deal to buy the NJ Nets, for which the State of NY is poised to seize Dan Goldstein's condo, Goldstein released a "Dear Prokhy" letter in hopes of attracting the attention of the team's prospective owner, recently dubbed the "people's billionaire" by Boston Celtics CEO Wyc Grousbeck.
As you are a people's billionaire we are certain that you can understand our concerns and outrage. We mean, how would you feel if the French government seized your $634 million French Riviera Villa Leopolda and gave it to a billionaire—one of the richest men in the world—to build a football stadium? Not too good, we're sure.
Posted by lumi at 5:36 AM
November 16, 2009
Getting money out of Russia: why Prokhorov might want the Nets no matter where they play
Atlantic Yards Report
The proposed purchase of a majority interest in the Nets by Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia's richest man (at a reported $9.5 billion) may seem to be a toy (as per the New York Times) for the oligarch.
After all, it would cost him just $200 million down (all borrowed) plus a willingness to absorb Nets' debts and losses--hundreds of millions of dollars more--to gain 80% of the team and 45% of the arena.
But if Nets majority owner Bruce Ratner is desperate to divest a money-losing asset, maybe Prokhorov is a little desperate in his own way, given the difficulty--and importance--of getting assets out of Russia and into more stable overseas markets not subject to the heavy hand of the Russian state.
A new owner in NJ?
If that's true--and there's some evidence--then Prokhorov should follow the deal whether it takes him to Brooklyn or New Jersey.
Indeed, after ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported that Prokhorov might buy the Nets even if they stay in New Jersey, a minority owner of the team confirmed to the Star-Ledger's Dave D'Alessandro that "it is believed that Prokhorov 'might be inclined to still buy and keep it in Jersey' if the price could be worked out." (In other words, a renegotiation.)
NoLandGrab: Sure, Prokhorov might be interested in the larger Atlantic Yards real estate deal, but we sincerely doubt it. He wants to own an NBA team, not some apartment buildings. So we have a modest proposal for Mr. Prokhorov.
You've seen the Prudential Center. Nice arena, right? Great pre-season crowd. Ready to go on opening day 2010 (if not sooner). As close to Manhattan as Brooklyn is.
Here's the plan: You make a small investment in Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, say, $300,000. That's not even a rounding error for you. At the same time, you start making noise about how you think the use of eminent domain is inappropriate (maybe relate it to how the totalitarian Soviet state disrespected private property back in the old days, and how you always resented it as a kid). Then you feign cold feet on the Nets deal. And then you sit back, and wait. It won't take long. With the prospect of his rich Russian oligarch bailing, Ratner's Atlantic Yards deal will be belly-up in a matter of weeks, if not days. And then you ride back in, buy the Nets for 50 cents on the dollar, move them to Newark, and voila: You've got what you want, at a huge, Norilsk Nickel-like discount. You can thank us with a couple courtside seats for Lebron and the Cavs, and maybe one of those $19,000 lunches.
Posted by eric at 12:07 PM
November 6, 2009
Owning A Russian Basketball Team Can Be Hazardous To Your Health
Deadspin
The irreverent sports blog broke this story about the drive-by murder earlier this week of a billionaire Russian oligarch sports team owner.
If future Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov ever invites you to watch a game in the owner's box, don't accept. Not only will you be stuck watching the Nets, there's a decent chance you'll be caught up in an assassination attempt.
Shabtai Kalmanovich, one of Prokhorov's partners in post-Soviet billionaire sports owner crime, was murdered on Monday. Kalmanovich is the owner of the Spartak Moscow women's basketball team that is famous for shelling out big bucks to sign WNBA stars like Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird, and Diana Taurasi. He was also gunned down on the streets of Moscow when another car pulled up alongside his and opened fire. Yeah, not exactly a random act of violence.
Police say they believe that the murder could be linked to Kalmanovich's business activities, and maybe even "his prominent role in Russian basketball." So that must make people like Prokhorov feel really safe and secure. The NBA too.
Related coverage...
The New American, Dangerous Connections: NBA and the KGB
The official publication of the John Birch Society picks up the story, and runs with it.
The recent public assassination in Moscow of Russian oligarch and sports team owner Shabtai Kalmanovich should give NBA promoters pause regarding their headlong rush to welcome Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov as the new owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball franchise.
...But don't expect the gunning down of Kalmanovich to stop Nets owner Bruce Ratner and Brooklyn developers from salivating over the prospect of netting some of Prokhorov's billions.
...There are other colors also associated with Russian joint ventures: green, for huge sums of laundered money, used for bribes and corruption; and red, for lots and lots of spilt blood. Some of the most recent blood comes from Prokhorov's old business partner, Shabtai Kalmanovich, owner of Spartak, the professional Russian women's basketball team. He was slain on November 2 in classic gangland style. Kalmanovich's black Mercedes-Benz was sprayed with submachine-gun and shotgun blasts from a passing vehicle.
...The NBA is making a dangerous deal with the devil; Prokhorov is not investing his own money, it's "The Party's Gold." And the Party guards it very jealously.
Click thru for tales of Russian intrigue, the KGB, the Israeli intelligence apparatus, Stalin, Lenin, secret gold stashes, double-crosses, double-double-crosses, and more.
NoLandGrab: We can't vouch for the story's premise, but it sure makes for entertaining reading — and gives "shooting guard" a whole new meaning.
Posted by eric at 10:27 PM
November 2, 2009
Owners 'Russian' to sell
Putting Nets playboy in penthouse
NY Post
by Rich Calder
Here's a real non-story. Two Brooklyn real estate moguls with unsold, overpriced apartments think prospective Nets' buyer Mikhail Prokhorov should bail them out (after all, he's bailing out Bruce Ratner, right?).
The owners of Brooklyn’s two priciest penthouses are warring to score a trophy tenant -- Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire playboy set to buy the New Jersey Nets and move them to the borough.
Banking on the Moscow mogul wanting a Brooklyn bachelor pad so he can be close to the Nets’ planned new arena, the landlords contacted Prokhorov’s representatives last week about their triplexes.
...Both Walentas and Levine said they’ve yet to hear back from Prokhorov, and a Prokhorov spokesman said he “won’t speculate on whether [the billionaire] would be interested.”
End of non-story, but click thru if you want more.
NoLandGrab: For sale, Brooklyn-based blog offering comprehensive coverage of Atlantic Yards project, planned Nets arena and spectacular Russian billionaire oligarch. Will accept payment in dollars or rubles. $1,000,000 o.b.o.
Posted by eric at 9:05 AM
October 27, 2009
HEY RICO! HEY MICKY! HEY VOVA! WHADDYA SAY?
Dances with Bears
by John Helmer
Some very interesting stuff from the one-man Moscow news bureau, intertwining US Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act prosecutions, prospective Atlantic Yards savior Mikhail Prokhorov, and term-limits overrider Mike Bloomberg. Really.
So here we are now in New York, where the mayor, a 5 foot-6 inch fellow named Michael Bloomberg, has spent $85 million to make sure noone has a chance of contesting the mayoral election against him on November 3; actually, by then he will have spent between $110 million and $140 million. With money like that, you might say the racket is already in power in New York City, and RICO is Mayor. So, you might also ask – how is it possible to file a lawsuit in a town whose mayor is Bloomberg against a Russian bad guy, whose legal exposure is that he conspired to make a lot of money, and got rid of any competition that stood in the way, mostly by paying for it to go away.
Hey Rico! Meet Micky Prokhorov – a man whose record for violating US-type stock manipulation and asset stripping regulations was allegedly so bad, an Englishman with an inherited title made the allegation in public. That man, Patrick Gillford (Lord Gillford, son and heir of the 7th Earl of Clanwilliam) made a lot of money himself working on projects which, according to Prokhorov, were paid for by Vladimir Potanin, Prokhorov’s original business partner in Moscow. Because Prokhorov was fighting Potanin for control of Polyus Gold, the listed goldmining company, whose stock they shared in roughly equal blocs, and because Gillford occupied a seat on the board as a purported independent, Prokhorov retorted in public that Gillford was toeing Potanin’s line, because he was being rewarded, and so wasn’t independent at all.
A man who works for Gillford in London named Locksley Ryan also busied himself in 2008, briefing institutional shareholders in the goldmining company. Ryan told them tales of how Prokhorov was threatening to steal the listed company’s assets, and urged them to vote against Prokhorov’s candidates for the board, and for Gillford.
A year on, and now that Mayor Bloomberg is backing Prokhorov to buy with some of his own, but mostly borrowed money, the Nets basketball franchise and a control stake in a Brooklyn real estate development, investigators from New York have been asking Gillford and Ryan to repeat what they said about Prokhorov’s business practices in 2008. But they refuse. Gillford is still sitting on the board of Polyus Gold; Potanin has cut his losses and sold out; and Prokhorov controls the company without challenge. Recently Ryan let slip: “In the end he didn’t have to steal the company’s assets, so what’s the point of repeating last year’s complaints that he might?”
NoLandGrab: We're not quite sure how to summarize, nor how to tie the threads together, so you may want to click thru and read the whole story.
Posted by eric at 4:16 PM
October 23, 2009
Nets buyer & pals hoop it up
Q: How much does a Russian billionaire spend on lunch in NYC? A: 19G!
NY Post
by Rich Calder
The planned Nets arena in Brooklyn might be a net economic loser, but the team's prospective owner might just make up for it.
Russia's richest man blew the equivalent of 552,000 rubles for lunch at one of the city's priciest restaurants as he celebrated his soon-to-be new career as a basketball baron, sources told The Post.
Billionaire playboy Mikhail Prokhorov, who is close to buying the Nets, took a half-dozen comrades to Nello on the Upper East Side Wednesday afternoon, following a meeting with NBA owners.
He concluded that they had hit it off so well, he'll have no trouble getting them to approve his plan to buy the team.
The tab and tip totaled close to $19,000 for Prokhorov and his pals.
NoLandGrab: Is there something about this guy that seems just a little too good to be true for Bruce Ratner and the NBA?
Posted by eric at 10:30 AM
October 22, 2009
Russian's positive Net result
NY Post
by Edmund DeMarche and Rich Calder
If first impressions mean anything, Russian billionaire playboy Mikhail Prokhorov’s attempt to become majority owner of the New Jersey Nets and move them to Brooklyn appears to be a slam dunk.
Russia’s richest man won over many NBA owners last night at the St. Regis Hotel in Midtown during his inaugural meeting with league brass about his plans to buy 80 percent stake in the Nets from developer Bruce Ratner, a source said.
"Everyone seemed excited over the love he has of basketball and the unlimited amount of money he can inject into the game," the source said of the closed-door session. "He can also do a lot to boost the presence of Eastern European talent in the league."
NoLandGrab: Given the success of Bruce Ratner's ownership regime, Bernie Madoff would've jazzed the other NBA owners.
Posted by eric at 3:40 PM
October 13, 2009
Weak dollar, low NY property prices woo foreigners
Forbes.com
After a year most investors would like to forget, foreign real estate buyers are being swayed to spend again in New York City by a weak U.S. dollar and property prices at levels not seen for years, say experts. Real estate brokers and analysts say they have noticed more foreign investors looking to purchase in New York -- boosting the market's recovery hopes....
Russian investors are among those leading the way with the country's richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov, recently reaching a $200 million deal to buy an 80 percent share in the New Jersey Nets basketball team and a 45 percent stake the Atlantic Yards, a real estate development in New York's Brooklyn borough where the team will play if the project is completed.
NoLandGrab: US taxpayer subsidies, eminent domain and a weak dollar... how can a foreign investor refuse?
Posted by lumi at 9:03 PM
October 8, 2009
Prokhorov says his Nets investment is no money down, all borrowed funds
Atlantic Yards Report
There's a little bit lost in translation, but the headline is clear: Prokhorov Says Nets Will Make Profit in 2011-12, reports the Moscow Times.
Russia's richest man expressed no doubt that legal challenges would be overcome. But the big news is that Prokhorov revealed his game-changing (to Bruce Ratner) investment comes with little sacrifice.
The Moscow Times reports:
Prokhorov said that while Onexim Group has sufficient funds, it might raise the financing required from Western banks. The New York Times reported Sept. 25 that the agreement also envisioned future Nets losses, up to $60 million, that are expected to accumulate before the move to Brooklyn. Prokhorov also will be responsible for 80 percent of the team’s $207 million debt, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified executive involved in the transaction.Prokhorov declined to provide details about the deal.
“We borrow the money and essentially give the loan to someone else,” Prokhorov said. “For that, we get the team and a share in the real estate project. To use simple language: the group doesn’t spend any of its own money.
“We are in the process of negotiating with Western banks,” Prokhorov added, declining to identify the banks or disclose the interest rate of the loans. “We will attract the full sum of the needed investment.”
Here's the original piece:
Moscow Times, Prokhorov Says Nets Will Make Profit in 2011-12
“We have carried out our due diligence. We understand the current state of the team, and we understand how it will be transformed into a successful and profitable undertaking when it moves to Brooklyn,” Prokhorov said in an interview.
“We understand the legal situation around the arena, our lawyers have attentively looked through all the documents. Under the agreements, we are protected from delays at the arena and expect that the management team will be able to deal with this,” he said.
NoLandGrab: The "management team" has been dealing with "this" for nearly six years now. We wouldn't have put our own money down, either.
Posted by eric at 9:33 AM
October 1, 2009
Obama silent on Atlantic Yards
President declines comment on Russian billionaire's purchase of the Nets
Courier-Life (via, NYPost.com)
By Steven Witt
As if Atlantic Yards isn't "brutally weird" enough, apparently the big sleeper issue is the real amount of public subsidy required to build the project President Obama's position on Atlantic Yards.
We think there's a logical thread in this article somewhere, but we are still looking:
President Obama may have weighed in on New York’s upcoming gubernatorial race, but he remains silent when it comes to commenting on Atlantic Yards.
That after the White House declined comment on Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s majority purchase of the NBA’s Nets and their planned move to Brooklyn.
Obama, a huge Chicago Bulls fan, recently decided to scrap former President George Bush’s missile defense plan in Eastern Europe in favor of a more mobile defense system, and relations between the United States and Russia appear to be thawing.
According to Prokhorov spokesperson Freeman Miller, the team’s new owner knows former Russian President and current Prime minister Vladamir Putin very well, and despite reports of some Russian Parliament members not being happy with the purchase, the sale appears to have the Kremlin’s approval.
Obama had talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at last week’s G20 summit in Pittsburgh, and the White House also declined comment on whether Atlantic Yards and the sale entered into their conversation.
Questions submitted via email to the Russian government were not answered at press time.
Posted by lumi at 7:21 AM
Review and Comment: A Game Changer
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Henrik Krogius
A 6-foot-6 (7? 9?) Russian basketball fan not only has come to the rescue of a project whose survival was in question, but he has stirred new hopes on the American professional basketball scene and raised speculation affecting the professional sports picture in general.
Nets are Scorching, Nets on the Net: 9/30/09
In others news, an editorial about the Atlantic Yards Development in the Brooklyn Eagle paints a grim picture for opponents of the Nets move to Brooklyn: “Daniel Goldstein and his Don’t Destroyers are now waging verbal warfare against the Prokhorov Oligarchs, but they are into a game where money talks louder than insults.”
NoLandGrab: Oh, stupid us... we forgot that Prokhorov is the richest man in Russia, that settles it then — build it now!
Posted by lumi at 6:38 AM
Lost in Translation: Of Atlantic of Yards of Development of Company
The fight against Bruce Ratner's bizarro Atlantic Yards megaproject is even funnier in translation:
VOANews.com, Σε Ρώσους πουλιέται η ομάδα Μπάσκετ του Νιού Τζέρζι
According to his statement his love on the basket led him to his decision to buy team NETS, when it is transported in her new permanent residence in Brooklyn of New York. It supports that his this movement will strengthen the interest for this sport in his country Russia.
The completion of work Atlantic Yards from the constructor and [nyn] householder of team Bruce Ratner - which had paid in 2004 300 millions dollars - is henceforth impossible and the Russian presents itself at the appropriate time in order to buy not only the team, but also the 45% of new 18 thousands of places of stage, as well as the 20% of constructional company that has undertaken him.
Expert.ru, Прохоров или Абрамович?
The member of the Federation Council Of [aslambek] Of [aslakhanov] named Prokhorov's act unpatriotic, and the leader of Duma committee on gymnastics and sport of Anton [Sikharulidze] noted that, in his opinion, the money, earned in Russia, must be packed first of all in the development of local children's- youthful sport.
...[T]he purchase “Of [nets]”, according to [Prokhorov], is only the aspect of the very profitable business- project, into which enter also shared participation in the building of the new arena of club in Brooklyn and option for acquisition by 20% Of atlantic Of yards Of development Of company, by the occupied building of 22 acres of the earth by the objects of commercial and habitable real estate.
Posted by lumi at 6:05 AM
September 30, 2009
From Ratnerville with Love
The reports and analysis are still trickling in of Bruce Ratner's deal with the Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov to bail out the NJ Nets and the flagging Atlantic Yards project.
NY Newsday, Globalization continues after sale of Nets to Russian mogul
Though the headline makes it sound like "globalization continues" despite the sale, Newsday's John Jeansonne casts the deal in the context of borderless economies:
“It’s business as usual in the international economy,” Duke University cultural anthropologist Orin Starn said of the Prokhorov deal. “It’s a borderless world and a world where money talks.
“It’s part of the pattern of globalization of sports ownership, just as corporations have globalized,” Starn said. “It’s also about the old story of sports franchises as a kind of trophy, a plaything of the wealthy. American millionaires and billionaires, from [marketing magnate and Washington Redskins owner] Daniel Snyder to [Microsoft co-founder and NFL, NBA and Major League Soccer team owner] Paul Allen, want their franchises, their sports toys. Russian billionaires are the same.”
Rob Tilliss, who worked with Ratner in the latter’s 2003 purchase of the Nets and now is CEO of the global sports and entertainment advising firm Inner Circle Sports, argued that “the reaction would’ve been similar if it were a wealthy Indian or Malaysian or Chinese buying the Nets. I think any time you have a foreign investor acquiring a major U.S. asset, there’s a lot of interest.”
...
Not so many years ago, such a deal would have been a clear sign of the apocalypse, especially since sports so often is tied to patriotism.
NoLandGrab: Globalization aside, this still begs the question, should public tax dollars and eminent domain be used to feather the nest of a foreign businessman, who is listed at #40 on Forbes's world's most wealthy list.
RotoTimes.com, Atlantic Division Report
Current Nets owner Bruce Ratner believes that the sale of 80 percent of the Nets to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is the final piece to building an $800 million arena and moving to Brooklyn. The Nets currently play in the Izod Center, the oldest arena in the league. Prokhorov would be the first foreign owner in the NBA if the sale is approved.
Minyanville.com, The NBA, From Russia With Love
One report on the deal totally fudges an important Atlantic Yards stat:
Prokhorov’s ownership conditions would give him a 45% stake in the team’s new arena in downtown Brooklyn. In addition to the arena, the Atlantic Yards projects would create more than 1,000 housing units, with more than half of them being touted as being “affordable or middle-income.”
NoLandGrab: Ratner added condos to his project after striking the "50/50" deal with ACORN, which bring the percentage of "affordable or middle-income" housing units down to roughly 35%.
Posted by lumi at 6:31 AM
September 29, 2009
Marty hails Nets' buyer
The NY Post
By Rich Calder
After a week, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz broke his studied silence over Bruce Ratner's deal to sell a majority stake in the NJ Nets and a minorty share of the oneday-to-be-built arena to Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov.
"Brooklyn is the Russian capital of America, so Mr. Prokhorov will feel right at home here, and I have been assured he will put the interests of Brooklyn first when it comes to making [the planned] Barclays Center and its benefits to Brooklyn a reality," Markowitz told the Post.
The beep sought to dispute borough politicians and political operates sourced in Friday’s edition who said Markowitz behind closed doors is embarrassed and angry over developer Bruce Ratner’s announcement last week that he plans to sell a majority stake in the Nets to Prokhorov.
NoLandGrab: Brooklynites can rest assured that Marty has "been assured" that Prokhorov "will put the interests of Brooklyn first?" That's hardly believable, or a ringing endorsement for that matter.
Thanks Marty and Bruce, we can now look forward to the use of tax dollars and eminent domain to further enrich a Russian oligarch — "Mr. Prokhorov will feel right at home here" indeed.
Mr. Burns from "The Simpsons" said it best, "Welcome to the American dream: a billionaire using public funds, to construct a private playground for the rich and powerful."
Atlantic Yards Report, Finally, Marty Markowitz embraces the Prokhorov purchase of the Nets and the arena
It took a little while--and an anonymously sourced New York Post story saying he was steamed and embarrassed--but Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz now says he's happy Russian mogul Mikhail Prokhorov is buying 80% of the Nets and 45% of the Barclays Center.
...
Note that Markowitz is not talking about the project's benefits to Brooklyn, because the timetable is very murky.As for benefits to Brooklyn, no one's quite toted them up. We know that the New York City Independent Budget Office says the arena would be a net loss for the city.
NoLandGrab: For the record, Marty didn't say he was "happy," only that he was "assured."
Posted by lumi at 5:12 AM
Nets' Would-Be Buyer Portrayed as Enigmatic Russian Doll
Runnin' Scared
The Village Voice's Roy Edroso reviews the media's take on the Russian oligarch who agreed to purchase a majority share in the NJ Nets and bail out Bruce Ratner's floundering Atlantic Yards project.
Mikhail Prokhorov wants to buy the Nets; the Jersey Star-Ledger takes a look at him. The billionaire has "suspected ties to organized crime," but that's "not uncommon in Russia, according to Rusal's own website." His largest U.S. operation is the country's only palladium and platinum producer, which he bought with the help of George Bush, Dick Cheney, and the Carlyle Group.
This weekend the Times offered a more light-hearted take from Moscow-based correspondent Clifford J. Levy: "Oligarchs have their share of occupational hazards: heavily armed rivals, stupendously corrupt bureaucrats," etc., but can Prokhorov face down longtime Atlantic Yards project opponent Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn?
Posted by lumi at 5:03 AM
Charges dropped against Bruce Ratner's new business partner
You know that the saga of Ratnerville has devolved into the absurd when NoLandGrab informs its readers that all charges have been dropped in a prostitution case against a multi-billionaire Russian oligarch.
Russia Today, Billionaire's alleged prostitution ring case closed
A case in which Russia's richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov, was arrested by French police investigating prostitution has been dismissed due to lack of evidence of any crime, according to the billionaire's lawyer.
RIA Novosti, France drops prostitution case involving Russian billionaire
Prokhorov himself described the closure of the case as "logical."
"I said initially that the case is a void. Its closure is logical. I am satisfied," the billionaire said in his blog.
Prokhorov also owns an investment vehicle, Onexim Group, while one of his main assets is Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer.
The tycoon signed on Wednesday a letter of intent with New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner to acquire a majority stake in the club and to take part in Ratner's Atlantic Yards mega-development project to construct a sports, residential and business complex in Brooklyn.
Posted by lumi at 4:57 AM
Getting to know the Russian buying Nets at a discount
The subscription-only Sports Business Journal takes a look at Bruce Ratner's deal with Mikhail Prokhorov to bail out the struggling franchise and megaproject.
Foreign money comes ashore with Nets deal
Who is Mikhail Prokhorov and what does his deal to buy the New Jersey Nets mean for the future of U.S. sports team ownership? Those were the questions running through sports business circles last week after the announced sale of the New Jersey Nets to the Russian multibillionaire...
Prokhorov Appears To Be Getting Great Deal In Nets Acquisition
Forbes Editor Indicates Prokhorov's Investment Just One-Third What Team, Arena Are Worth Forbes National Editor Mike Ozanian indicated that prospective Nets Owner Mikhail Prokhorov's $200M investment for 80% of the franchise and 45% of the proposed Barclays…
Posted by lumi at 4:49 AM
September 28, 2009
The Curious Case of the Nets' Ownership
The Wall Street Journal
By Brad Parks
The bizarre deal with Mikhail Prokhorov is only the next colorful chapter for a "storied" franchise:
But the Russian oligarch will have to work hard to match the antics produced by his predecessors. This, after all, is a franchise whose first NBA owner, Roy Boe, financed its entry into the league by selling its best player, Julius Erving.
...
Still, if there's one thing that encourages the Nets' remaining diehard fans about Mr. Prokhorov, it's this: He couldn't be any zanier.
Posted by lumi at 6:36 AM