A new publicly traded company, Atlanta Braves Holdings Inc., will be legally distinct from Liberty Media.
The Major League Baseball offseason is still in its early stages, but the Atlanta Braves didn’t need a free agent blockbuster to score a significant splash. Liberty Media, the company whose portfolio includes the Braves, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, and Formula 1 auto racing, announced on Thursday that we’ll soon be able to buy stock in the 2021 World Series champions directly.
A new entity, Atlanta Braves Holdings Inc., will exist as its own publicly traded company separate from Liberty Media. Per a press release, the entity will include:
- “All of the businesses, assets, and liabilities currently attributed to the Braves Group, including Braves Holdings, LLC,” the latter of which operates the baseball franchise itself
- Significant components of The Battery Atlanta, the mixed-use hub in eastern Cobb County that includes the Braves’ Truist Park
- An unidentified amount of “corporate cash”
Currently, investors could back the Braves by purchasing common stock in Liberty Braves Group ($BATRA), but that entity is not legally distinct from Liberty Media. Moving forward, existing Series A, B, and C stockholders in BATRA will see their common stock exchanged for shares of Atlanta Braves Holdings.
Consider this move to be striking while the iron is hot. In 2021, as the sports world emerged from the worst of the COVID-19 shutdowns, the Braves won their first World Series since 1995. This past year, they set attendance and revenue records at Trust Park.
As Liberty Media President and CEO Greg Maffei said in an official statement:
“We plan to split off the Atlanta Braves into an asset-backed stock to better highlight its strong value. Additionally, post split-off, we plan to recapitalize all of Liberty Media’s remaining common stock into three tracking stock groups. These actions will provide greater investor choice and enable targeted investment and capital-raising through more focused currencies while maintaining an optimal capital structure for Liberty Media and preserving optionality with respect to our subsidiary, SiriusXM, and our Live Nation stake.”
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