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The New York Mets’ beauty contest is almost ready to crown a winner.
Team ownership has chosen a preferred bidder — the group led by former commodities trader Ray Bartoszek and investor Anthony Lanza — and have been in advanced talks since last week on the proposed deal to sell up to a 49 percent stake in the money-losing team for $200 million, sources told The Post.
The talks, which can still splinter like a cheap bat because they have yet to iron out some sticky details, could be wrapped up and announced before the end of the month.
“They are pretty close to a deal,” a source said.
One of the sticking points, sources said, is whether the bidders will be allowed to purchase a small piece of SportsNet New York, the profitable regional sports network controlled by Sterling Equities, the investment firm run by Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz. Sterling also owns 100 percent of the Mets.
The value of the Mets, including debt, may not support a $200 million price for a 49 percent stake. In the past, sources said, Wilpon and Katz had not been looking to sell a piece of their controlling stake in SNY.
The news that Wilpon and Katz have chosen a preferred bidder is a significant move in the months-long bidding process.
The team is hoping to close on a deal by June 30 so it can use the investment cash to fund day-to-day operations and repay some debt. The Mets took a $30 million emergency loan from Major League Baseball last November and have to pay that back.
With attendance down about 10 percent from last year, the Mets are on track to lose $60 million in 2011.
MLB pressured Sterling to raise money after it lost $500 million in Bernard Madoff’s funds and found it difficult to bankroll the franchise. Wilpon and Katz are battling a lawsuit brought by the Madoff estate trustee seeking $1 billion in purported ersatz profits — and damages.
The two businessmen have steadfastly maintained that they were victims of Madoff like thousands of others and didn’t know the fraudster was running a Ponzi scheme.
Bartoszek and Lanza, both from Westchester, are lifelong Mets fans, sources said.
Bartoszek would be starting a new line of work as his present one closes. Until recently, the 46-year-old had been head of oil trading for the world’s biggest commodity trader, earning hundreds of millions of dollars for Glencore International. The Switzerland-based company listed its shares this month in the London Stock Exchange’s biggest IPO ever, raising $10 billion.
Lanza, 44, started private equity firm Carriage House Partners.
Sterling was previously close to reaching a deal with hedge fund titan Steven Cohen, but those talks later cooled.
The Mets declined to comment, and the Bartoszek team did not return calls.