Posted on 09/26/2002 7:09:21 PM PDT by GeneD
Filed at 9:42 p.m. ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - On the day the Anaheim Angels clinched a playoff berth for the first time in 16 years, the Walt Disney Co. hired an investment bank to market the baseball team and the Mighty Ducks hockey franchise to potential buyers.
Disney has long discussed selling the two sports teams to a buyer who would keep them in Anaheim but the entertainment giant's announcement on Thursday that it had retained Lehman Brothers marked a firm step toward that goal.
``Lehman is the investment broker that is looking for a buyer as of this morning,'' Angels spokeswoman Trish Pene said.
The news also came on the same day that Paul Pressler, the head of Disney's theme parks division, which oversees the teams, announced he was leaving the Magic Kingdom to join retailer Gap Inc. as its new chief executive.
Reports about a potential sale of the two teams have cropped up sporadically since the late 1990s, when Disney first said it would consider selling the teams that were not considered central to its core entertainment business.
Henry Nicholas, co-founder of communications chipmaker Broadcom Corp., was reportedly in talks to buy the team in 1999, but a deal was never reached. At the time, the two sides were reportedly discussing a price of $400 million to $500 million, according to media reports.
More recently, former Florida Marlins owner John Henry also expressed interest in the team last winter before joining the group that bought the Boston Red Sox.
Alabama banker Donald Watkins also met with Disney officials earlier this year to discuss buying the team for a preliminary price of $250 million, according to media reports.
Disney acquired the Angels in 1996, but has struggled with the team since then. According to Major League Baseball, the club lost $99.8 million from 1995 through 2001.
The Mighty Ducks, an expansion team named after a Disney movie, began playing in the National Hockey League in 1993.
The Angels, who last appeared in the baseball playoffs in 1986, trounced the Texas Rangers by a score of 10-5 at The Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, on Thursday to secure at least a wild card spot in the playoffs.
If the Angels win the American League West division in the final games of the season they play the Minnesota Twins in a division series that would begin in Anaheim on Oct. 1.
If the Angels finish second to the Oakland Athletics in their division, they would face a playoff series against the New York Yankees that would begin in that city.
The Mighty Ducks, which begin the 2002-2003 season in October, have never reached the Stanley Cup finals.
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