Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Penguin bids are on hold to next week
By Shelly Anderson
July 15, 2006

The process of selecting a bidder for the Penguins is expected to continue into next week, two people familiar with the situation said yesterday.

Although it was thought one of the five bidders would be picked to enter into a letter of intent to buy the club by yesterday, Allen and Company, the New York firm brokering the sale, apparently is still analyzing details of the offers.

The bidders are Sam Fingold, a Toronto native and principal of Kenyon Investments in Hartford, who wants to buy the Penguins as a family venture with his father and brother and who has talked about keeping the hockey team in town or moving it to Kansas City; Lawrence Gottesdiener, chairman and CEO of Northland Investment Corp. in the Boston area, who has not publicly acknowledged any partners and has said he would like to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh or explore a move to Hartford; Andrew Murstein, president of Medallion Financial Group on New York, who has lined up several local partners and has emphatically stated his intention to keep the team here; Jim Renacci, a Western Pennsylvania native and now an Ohio businessman, small-town mayor and owner of the Columbus Destroyers of Arena Football, who has said his interest as a buyer stems from his desire to keep the team in town and who has lined up as partners Denver Nuggets coach George Karl, a Penn Hills native, and Cleveland businessman John Ferchill; and a fifth bid from a group believed to be interested in moving the Penguins to Hamilton, Ontario.

Two more partners in the Murstein group have emerged. They are Richard Kelson, recently retired chief financial officer of Alcoa, and Evan Segal, owner of Dormont Manufacturing in Export, Pa.

Others in Murstein's group are Western Pennsylvania natives Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks; Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino of Pitt and the Miami Dolphins; Apollo Management, which in the past several years bought the U.S. Steel Tower, Downtown; Pittsburgh-based General Nutrition Companies; and Shady Side real estate firm Walnut Capital.

The price for the team is expected to top $150 million, with bids from those looking to move the team believed to be higher than the rest, although factors such as financial solvency, ease of the path to NHL approval, size of the bidding group and intent as far as team placement are thought to carry some import.

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