Padres to Give Financial Records to Three Groups, MLB.com Says

Major League Baseball has approved three potential buyers to review the financial records of the San Diego Padres, team owner John Moores told MLB.com.

Moores said one group is headed by movie executive Thomas Tull, another is led by former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley and the third by billionaire hedge-fund manager Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors. Cohen was an unsuccessful bidder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were sold in March.

Moores told MLB.com he expects at least three more groups to join the process before the bidding is complete.

“I can’t give you a timetable, but I remain optimistic,” Moores said in an interview in New York, where the Padres were playing the Mets. “There’s no reason for me to believe that we won’t have a sale in place by the end of the season.”

Moores said in April that the Padres had hired investment bankers Allen & Co. and Moag & Co. to help sell the team after a deal with minority owner Jeff Moorad failed.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Gloster in San Francisco at rgloster@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Sillup at msillup@bloomberg.net