Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world.
Americas+1 212 318 2000
EMEA+44 20 7330 7500
Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000
Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world.
Americas+1 212 318 2000
EMEA+44 20 7330 7500
Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000
By Brian Baxter
Hogan Lovells and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, after helping to close two major sports deals this year, now face each other in the battle over control of the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team.
William Savitt, a litigator and co-chairman of Wachtell’s executive committee, is representing former baseball star Alex Rodriguez and entrepreneur Marc Lore in their effort to complete a $1.5 billion acquisition of the NBA franchise.
The controlling owner, Glen Taylor, has hired Hogan Lovells litigation partner William Regan to handle the unfolding dispute, said a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak about legal representations.
The roles of both law firms build on their reputations for being called upon to handle major sports deals. Both firms had roles this year on the $1.7 billion sale of baseball’s Baltimore Orioles and a $3 billion investment in the PGA Tour. Hogan Lovells last summer represented the owner of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, Jeffrey Vinik, in two major transactions.
Wachtell also counseled Michael Jordan last year on his roughly $3 billion sale of a majority stake in the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets. The firm also handled an internal workplace probe of the Phoenix Suns that preceded the $4 billion sale last year of that team and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
While professional sports clients are a small portion of Big Law legal work, such engagements can bring extra attention and branding benefits to firms given that team activities are highly publicized and closely followed by fans.
The Timberwolves ownership saga is occurring in the midst of a successful playoff run by the team, which swept the Suns and is tied 2-2 against the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets pending a matchup late Tuesday.
Both sides in the Timberwolves dispute are heading to arbitration to potentially resolve their differences. A three-person panel could be selected as soon as this week. A one-day mediation session this month failed to yield a settlement.
Taylor alleged in late March that Rodriguez and Lore—who own 40% of the Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx—had failed to meet a financing deadline to purchase another 40% stake that would effectively finalize their takeover of the team. Taylor said their inability to complete the agreement meant he would retain control of the Timberwolves and Lynx.
The Rodriguez and Lore camp assert that Taylor is having seller’s remorse and seeking to renege on the deal following the subsequent sales of the NBA’s Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, Milwaukee Bucks, and Suns, all of which fetched higher prices than the Timberwolves. In the three years since Taylor struck his deal with Rodriguez and Lore, the Timberwolves have assembled a roster—led by young stars Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns—that has become one of the league’s most exciting teams.
Savitt, who also co-chairs Wachtell’s litigation department, represented Twitter Inc. in a successful bid to prevent Elon Musk from backing out of a $44 billion merger agreement in 2022. Musk sued Wachtell last year over the firm’s roughly $90 million success fee for advising Twitter. Wachtell succeeded in pushing Musk’s lawsuit into arbitration late last year.
Edward Herlihy, a Wachtell corporate partner and sports industry dealmaker, initially advised Rodriguez and his former fiancée, pop icon Jennifer Lopez, on their ill-fated bid to buy baseball’s New York Mets, a club ultimately sold to hedge fund mogul Steve Cohen. Herlihy then took the lead advising Rodriguez and Lore on the Timberwolves transaction before turning over that work and leadership of Wachtell to Savitt.
Rodriguez and Wachtell were introduced by Jeffrey Lee, a former senior corporate associate at the firm who became an executive at Rodriguez’s Miami-based investment firm ARod Corp., Bloomberg Law previously reported. Lee has since left and is now a co-founder of makeup and beauty care brand Dibs Beauty.
Hogan Lovells hired Regan in 2016 from Katten Muchin Rosenman, where he was a partner for a half-dozen years after spending more than a decade at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. During his 25-year career, Regan’s specialized in mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance disputes, as well as in securities class action, shareholder derivative, and financial products litigation.
To contact the reporter on this story:
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
AI-powered legal analytics, workflow tools and premium legal & business news.
Log in to keep reading or access research tools.
