Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The Pohlad family, owner of baseball’s Minnesota Twins, stands to gain about $110 million from PepsiCo Inc.’s takeover of PepsiAmericas Inc., the second- biggest bottler of Pepsi-Cola.

The Pohlads own 12.8 million shares, or about 10 percent, of Minneapolis-based PepsiAmericas, according to regulatory filings. PepsiCo today agreed to buy the company for $28.50 a share. The shares were worth $19.88 on April 17, the last trading day before PepsiCo’s original offer.

Carl Pohlad, who died in January at the age of 93, was a self-made billionaire who purchased Major League Baseball’s Twins in 1984. When he died, he was the 102nd-richest American with a net worth of $3.2 billion amassed from family bottling, banking and real-estate businesses, according to Forbes magazine. Robert Pohlad, one of three sons, runs PepsiAmericas, while his brother James is chief executive officer of the Twins.

“What’s fair and right for the shareholder, Bob will do it,” said Irwin Jacobs, a friend and business associate of the Pohlads and chairman of Jacobs Industries in Minnesota. “I think he did that here.”

Robert Pohlad, whose age was listed as 54 in a March 18 regulatory filing, last week urged PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi to finish negotiations to buy PepsiAmericas and Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. after a three-month stalemate. Mary Viola, a PepsiAmericas spokeswoman, didn’t return a call seeking comment today.

Bottling Entry

Carl Pohlad entered the bottling industry in 1962 with an investment in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Pepsi bottling plant. He then acquired plants across the U.S. before selling to MEI Corp. After MEI sold and merged most of its bottling assets with PepsiCo in 1986, he began acquiring Pepsi bottling businesses again. The operation eventually became publicly held PepsiAmericas, a Fortune 500 company with operations in the U.S., Europe and the Caribbean.

The family’s private companies, which also include car dealerships, entertainment, and jewelry companies, employ 3,000 people across 33 states, according to the Pohlad Family Foundation, which says it has given more than $100 million to the Minneapolis-St. Paul community. Carl’s son William heads the foundation and River Road Entertainment, the producer of movies including “Into the Wild” and “Brokeback Mountain.”

Pohlad bought the Twins for $38 million in 1984 and saw his team win World Series titles in 1987 and 1991. The Twins remain in the family’s hands and are due to move into a new 40,000- seat, $535 million ballpark, Target Field, next season. They are third in the American League Central Division with a 52-53 record, behind the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox.

Ballpark Financing

The team’s viability in the Twin Cities area, or anywhere, wasn’t always so certain.

In 1997, Pohlad threatened to sell the team to businessman Don Beaver, who intended to move the franchise to North Carolina for the 1999 season. The commission that ran the Metrodome sued Pohlad to keep the team in the stadium and the sides eventually agreed on a new lease.

Believing that the Twins couldn’t survive in the Metrodome, Pohlad continued to entertain offers for the franchise. In November 2001, baseball’s owners voted to disband the Twins and Montreal Expos, the league’s two low-revenue clubs. The contraction plan, which had Pohlad’s support, failed the following February after a fight in the Minnesota courts and a grievance from the baseball players’ union.

The Twins sold about $210 million in bonds to pay for their share of Target Field. Hennepin County agreed to contribute $350 million.

To contact the reporters on this story: Zachary R. Mider in New York at zmider1@bloomberg.net; Mason Levinson in New York at mlevinson@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 4, 2009 17:03 EDT