Attempt to sell Diamond Baseball Holdings to Silver Lake

Endeavor has entered into an agreement to sell its Diamond Baseball Holdings company to private equity firm Silver Lake, which is the majority owner of Endeavor.

Under Endeavor, DBH owned and operated select local minor league clubs affiliated with Major League Baseball. DBH has acquired 10 clubs to date including Iowa Cubs (Triple A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs); Memphis Redbirds (Triple A daughter of the St. Louis Cardinals); Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders (New York Yankees Triple A daughter); Hudson Valley Renegades (High-A daughter of the New York Yankees); San Jose Giants (San Francisco Giants Single-A affiliate); Gwinnett Stripers (Atlanta Braves Triple A daughter); Mississippi Braves (Double-A daughter of the Atlanta Braves); Rome Braves (Atlanta Braves High-A daughter); Augusta GreenJackets (Atlanta Braves Single-A affiliate); and Oklahoma City Dodgers (Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers).

On Tuesday, Endeavor announced the sale and said it was internal priorities for the company, which has a wide range of media, sports, fashion, arts and talent representation activities under its umbrella.

“Ultimately, our relationship with MLB and MLBPA took precedence given the importance of our overall agency business and our continued investment in our baseball agency practice within WME Sports,” said Endeavor President Mark Shapiro. “Silver Lake will be an excellent partner for these clubs given their deep understanding of the business and incredible track record of investing in intellectual property in sport.”

Owned by Silver Lake, Pat Battle will continue to lead DBH as Executive Chairman, while Peter Freund will retain leadership as CEO.

“We look forward to working closely with Silver Lake and continuing the momentum in promoting minor league baseball,” Battle and Freund said in a joint statement. “After several months of invaluable support and guidance from Endeavor in building this organization and moving into Silver Lake’s proven portfolio, the entire DBH organization is excited to focus on this next phase of the company’s aggressive growth.”

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022.