Boca Resorts has signed a definitive agreement to sell the club to a group of South Florida investors that includes retired professional football star Bernie Kosar. As part of the deal, H. Wayne Huizenga, Boca Resorts' chairman and owner of the Miami Dolphins National League Football team, also agreed to join the buyout group as a minority partner.
Besides Kosar and Huizenga, the buyout group includes Alan P. Cohen, co-chairman and CEO of Andrx Corp., a Davie, FL-based biopharmaceutical company; Elliot Hahn, Andrx president; Michael E. Maroone, president and COO of AutoNation Inc., a Fort Lauderdale-based automotive retailer; Albert E. Maroone, chairman of Maroone Realty Inc.; David L. Epstein, CEO of Fort Lauderdale-based Precision Response Corp., a division of N.Y.-based USA Networks Inc.; Jordan Zimmerman, president of Fort Lauderdale-based Ad Team of Florida Inc.; and Steven Cohen.
Last year, publicly traded Boca Resorts disclosed in a shareholder's report it hired the N.Y.-based investment-banking firm Allen & Co. to explore the possibility of a sale. Under the terms of the agreement, the buyers offered $83.5 million in cash and a $7.5 million secured promissory note. In addition, the group agreed to assume certain off-balance sheet contingencies such as $10 million in construction obligations secured by a performance bond.
"Our decision to sell this business was made after a thorough examination of its strategic relationship to our core leisure and recreation operations," Richard C. Rochon, Boca Resorts' president, says in a prepared statement. "Despite having a strong attachment to the team, we have an obligation to provide those who invest in our company with the highest return on their investment.''
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