MLB

Mets $250M refinance closer

The New York Mets owners have just made one of their biggest off-season signings.

Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz have fully sold their loan to refinance the team, a source close to the situation said.

Having banks line up to partake in the loan allows the longtime pals and business partners to keep control of the team.

The outcome wasn’t unexpected since The Post reported exclusively Jan. 31 that they had enough bank support to get the re-fi done.

“The loan was well oversubscribed,” the source said.

This financing comes weeks before the team was scheduled to make a $250 million principal payment.

Until recently, Wilpon and Katz didn’t know if the banks, as part of the re-fi, were going to insist the owners pay down some of the loan to get the deal done.

That didn’t happen. But had the talks taken a bad turn and a cash payment been demanded, it was not clear the owners had the money.

Wilpon and Katz lost much of their fortune in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme.

The new five-year loan is priced at Libor plus 3.25 percent, the source said. Bank of America is the lead arranger.

Major League Baseball still needs to approve the loan. The final closing is likely two-to-three weeks away, the source said.

The Mets, meanwhile, lost more than $10 million in 2013.

Depending on attendance and payroll, the team could turn a profit this year since the value of a new national TV deal jumps by $25 million per team.

More important to lenders, the team’s estimated value has risen dramatically from less than $600 million two years ago, to more than $1 billion.

The value jumped after Guggenheim Partners in 2012 agreed to pay a record $2 billion for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Mets had no comment.