MLB

Mets stakes sold

Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz last week sold 12 minority stakes in the troubled franchise worth $240 million, using the proceeds to pay off Major League Baseball and reduce the team’s crippling debt, The Post has learned.

With the moves, the team now has breathing room with its lenders and — combined with yesterday’s Picard settlement — appears to have saved the franchise.

It’s positive news few would have predicted a couple of months ago when the Mets didn’t have the cash to make revenue-sharing payments in 2010 and likely 2011, and were forced to borrow a total of $65 million from MLB and Bank of America, sources said.

The minority stake sales allowed Wilpon and Katz to pay off MLB and BofA. In addition, the partners paid at least $100 million toward $430 million of team debt, sources said.

The Mets have not refinanced their remaining loans, but have bought the team goodwill. Last year, team lender JPMorgan wrote a letter warning that the team had breached its debt covenants.

The owners first must prove they can come close to hitting their budget after missing it badly the last two years, one source said.

In 2011, the Mets lost roughly $70 million. After big payroll cuts in the off-season, the team could break even this year.

The buyers of each of the 12 stakes could not be learned, but the Mets owners bought three of the units sold, and SNY cable network minority partners Time Warner Cable and Comcast each bought at least one stake — as did billionaire hedge-fund titan Steve Cohen.

The $20 million stakes value the Mets franchise at roughly $950 million. The minority investors will not have to cover losses. The Mets raised enough cash from the sales to likely cover modest shortfalls.

The minority-stake sales process was handled by bankers not involved in the team’s $162 million settlement with Madoff trustee Irving Picard, sources said. The Mets declined comment.