Ratner to sell $700M in bonds for Nets arena
October 02, 2009 02:30PM
Bruce Ratner
Developer and current New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner will soon sell $700 million in tax-free bonds to fund a new basketball arena for his team, he said earlier this week. The bonds must be sold before the Dec. 31 Internal Revenue Service deadline. The news comes on the heels of a deal between Ratner and Russian metal tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, under which Prokhorov's holding company, Onexim, will provide $200 million in financing for the arena. In exchange, Prokhorov will receive an 80 percent stake in the Nets, a 45 percent stake in the arena, and an option on 20 percent of the rest of Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, valued at $4.9 billion. [Observer]
The Real Deal reserves the right to delete any comment it finds to be rude, obscene, racist, sexist, bigoted, irrelevant or repetitive, as well as inappropriate comments about anyone's personal appearance or advertisements. The Real Deal does not endorse any comments posted on its Web site nor does it verify the veracity of comments or the identity of posters.
Comments
Anonymous
what schmuck is going to buy these bonds, oh wait, Moody's will rate them AAA, so, no problem... for AIG to buy them
Comment #1 Posted By: Anonymous 10/02/09
Anonymous
ratner looks like a cartoon character...where's his chin?
Comment #2 Posted By: Anonymous 10/02/09
Anonymous
Unbelieveable ... tax free bonds to facilitate foreign investors mass profiting off the corruption of the state. WE PRAY TO THE COURT OF APPEALS: STOP THE INSANITY OF UNFAIRNESS AND GREED. Give us back our neighborhood and let us live in peace.
Comment #3 Posted By: Anonymous 10/03/09
Anonymous
Everyone wants to blame Forest City Ratner but New York City & State are just as much to blame for the Atlantic Yards and Nets Arena projects moving forward. The Empire State Development Corp is a corrupt organization. Their employees move in and out of the private sector and take their relationships with them (FCRC has several employees who are formally high ranking employees at ESDC). People are then amazed when ESDC rules in their favor for projects such as Atlantic Yards. Ratner is just using the system which needs a complete overhaul!
Comment #4 Posted By: Anonymous 10/03/09
Bobbo
What a bunch of cranks. You'd all prefer a Brooklyn of nail shops, beauty salons and bodegas. Big projects scare you. There are 13 subway lines and an LIRR station either directly underneath the arena or within two blocks. That's half the subway lines in the transit system. That concentration has cried out for a new downtown for 50 years. Jane Jacobs was right: big projects at big transit junctions. As for Prokhorov, he might actually bring an international perspective to the project. Considering 37% of the borough's 2.5 million people were born overseas, that's a good thing.
Comment #5 Posted By: Bobbo 10/04/09
Anonymous
go back to Jersey Bobbo
Comment #6 Posted By: Anonymous 10/05/09