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Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz is prepping a fresh acquisition strategy for AEG Worldwide — just a week after pulling the entertainment giant off the block.
The 73-year-old executive and his new senior team are huddling to finalize a strategy on how best to grow AEG at home and abroad — a plan, sources said, that could include the possible purchase of Live Nation’s Foxwoods Theatre on 42nd Street.
“They have big international expansion plans for venues and ticketing,” said one executive involved in the process.
LA-based AEG, which owns the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, London’s O2 Arena and a host of other properties, has been trying to take on Ticketmaster with its own ticketing platform, called AXS.
It is also looking at concert venues and theaters in New York and similar assets as far afield as Australia and China.
“There’s a lot of things they want to do, it’s not just about bringing an [NFL] team to Los Angeles. It’s partly about that, but there’s a ton of other things they want to buy,” said a source.
Anschutz yanked AEG off the block after receiving two second-round bids. The first, for $6.8 billion, from Guggenheim Partners, was viewed negatively because it would have reduced working capital and saddled AEG with big debts.
The second was for $7.2 billion from the Qatar Investment Holding Group and Colony Capital.
Within the last month, Anschutz asked both parties to “step up one more time.”
When they refused, he decided all the contingencies around the offers simply weren’t worth the hassle.
Anschutz was also furious about all the press leaks during the auction, conducted by Blackstone Group.
“His feeling was to hell with it,” said a source.
A rep for Anschutz declined comment.