Goldman Sachs is one of several underwriters backing the impending IPO for PIMCO’s new mortgage loan-focused REIT (see story, this page), but it might have bigger designs in the works elsewhere along Newport Center Drive.
The firm is touted as a potential wild card bidder for Joe Duran’s United Capital, one of the country’s largest registered investment advisers with about $23 billion in assets under management.
The Newport Beach firm, one door down from PIMCO, initiated a recapitalization process in January, and hired New York investment banking firm Moelis to solicit bids, according to a recent report in trade publication Financial Planning.
Goldman’s seen as a likely bidder, alongside a number of private equity firms and PE-backed RIAs, according to the report. How much could the company fetch? A year ago, we valued it at about $400 million to $500 million.
Duran—in March named a Business Journal Excellence in Entrepreneurship award winner—is likely to stay involved after the sale. He told Financial Planning that a new majority owner ideally would “cut a check for hundreds of millions of dollars, and say, ‘Keep on doing what you’re doing and let us help you do it quicker.’”
The lead up to last week’s NFL Draft saw Newport Beach super-agent Leigh Steinberg making the rounds; he represents the league’s reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes.
No word yet on the status of likely record-breaking contract negotiations for the Kansas City Chiefs QB, but 23-year-old Mahomes has been using the offseason to market himself more—Steinberg told the Business Journal earlier this year that was the plan—with endorsements. He has a new deal with Foothill Ranch’s Oakley, becoming the first NFL player to endorse the sunglasses firm.
Elsewhere in the league, some older players are still getting paid; see 37-year-old Ben Roethlisberger’s new three-year, $80 million contract. He’s represented by Ryan and Bruce Tollner’s Rep1 agency, based in Irvine.
The chairman of Morgan Lewis’ global sports practice, Jeff Moorad, used to work with Steinberg at the legendary Steinberg & Moorad sports rep agency, and he served on Oakley’s board during its 2007 sale to Italy’s Luxottica.
He later ran and had ownership stakes in the MLB’s San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks teams.
Now, you’re most likely to see him watching soccer, which he calls “my favorite sport,” and his favorite team, Tottenham Hotspur, especially during a season that’s seen Spurs open a new stadium in London, where he attended the first match. The team has also made an unexpected run to the semifinals of Europe’s Champions League.
If Moorad takes another kick at sports ownership, expect it to be soccer related.
