It’s starting to look like New York Islanders owner Charles Wang had his hands full when looking for someone to buy the team.
According to Dan Primack at Fortune.com, Wang had a third party separate from Jon Ledecky, whom he sold the team to, and Andrew Barroway, who he’s now being sued by, he was negotiating with.
From Fortune:
Apparently unbeknownst to Barroway, Fortune has learned that Wang also was negotiating to sell the team to a Boston-based investment firm called Peak Ridge Capital. Not beginning in March, but several months earlier.
According to Primack, Peak Ridge was aware of Wang’s negotiations with Barroway and they came in with a bid of around $478 million for the team. Peak Ridge also would’ve had a former NHL player involved to help run the operations. Let’s all ponder who that could’ve been had they won out.
Of course, Wang went away from Barroway after he balked at his final asking price of around $548 million. Peak Ridge’s CEO, like Barroway did before Wang upped the ante, thought he had a deal done. According to Fortune, Peak Ridge isn’t interested in suing Wang.
Negotiating with multiple interested parties doesn’t seem uncommon, but it doesn’t do much for having good faith in those talks if you’re playing them all against each other.
Ultimately Wang got what he wanted so he’s satisfied. Of course, if he winds up stuck paying millions to Barroway for legal costs he might think otherwise.
