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Billionaire investor and hockey enthusiast Nelson Peltz is weighing a plan to buy the $250 million in debt of the troubled New Jersey Devils, a source close to the situation told The Post.
The plan being discussed by Peltz, whose Triarc Companies owns Wendy’s, includes lining up an equity investor to buy the money-losing NHL team should the current team owners fail in their talks with lenders to restructure the debt, according to one person who has spoken with Peltz about the plan in recent weeks.
Peltz, who was said to be interested in buying the New York Islanders last December, is seeking a partner to provide perhaps $50 million in equity in a purchase of the team in a prepackaged bankruptcy.
The Devils missed an Oct. 17 deadline to make a roughly $80 million principal payment. Lenders have not put the team in default.
Rather, the group has extended the deadline and is negotiating with controlling owner Jeffrey Vanderbeek to reach a restructuring.
Vanderbeek is working with Goldman Sachs on an ambitious plan to securitize the team’s TV rights deal. If successful, the securitization will generate roughly $80 million — enough, it is believed, to pay lenders and get the debt restructured.
Goldman has told the lending group the securitization is on track and should be done in mid- to late-January.
If Vanderbeek succeeds, it could put the Peltz plan on ice.
However, while the lending group is working with the Devils to restructure its loans, one lender told The Post he would jump at an offer of $200 million.
The Devils, and its Devils Arena Entertainment unit, which collects proceeds from events at Newark’s Prudential Center arena, sources said, is losing about $15 million a year.
Devils co-owner Ray Chambers has agreed to — but not closed on — a deal to pay $24 million to unload his 47 percent stake in the team to Vanderbeek as part of an agreement to refinance the franchise’s debt.
Chambers, a billionaire like Peltz, is responsible for paying for the Devils losses, and wants out.
The source close to the situation said the NHL has given tacit approval to Peltz’s plan, if he pulls it off. A source close to the league said it is not working with Peltz.
In recent months, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has taken different stances with those buying debt from financially troubled teams.
The NHL succeeded in stopping a debt investor from taking control of the Phoenix Coyotes. After that, Bettman allowed Vancouver businessmen Tom Gaglardi to buy the debt of the bankrupt Dallas Stars — who won ownership of the franchise last week.
Peltz may be the richest New York hockey fan.
The 69-year-old trained his sons hard on hockey. He has an enclosed ice rink in his Bedford, NY, estate, along with a Zamboni machine. In a 2007 interview, Peltz said that for his kids it was “gym, ice and homework.”
If Peltz’s debt plan succeeds, he would like to announce a deal during the Jan. 28-29 All-Star weekend, the source close to the situation said.
The 2012 NHL All-Star Game is in Ottawa, and the Ottawa Senators in the seventh round of the 2009 NHL draft chose Peltz’s son, Brad.
A Peltz spokesman declined comment. An NHL spokesman said, “I am not commenting on the subject in its entirety.” The Devils declined comment.