Liberty Media to split the Atlanta Braves as an independent public traded company

Atlanta Braves owner Liberty Media recently announced via a statement that the Braves are now a separate publicly traded company. The board of directors has given management the authority to form a split-off entity from the Braves and The Battery Atlanta into a new tracking stock. The move is yet to get approval from the current Braves Group Holding and the MLB itself.

“We plan to split off the Atlanta Braves into an asset-backed stock to better highlight its strong value,” Liberty Media President and CEO Greg Maffei said in a statement Thursday. “The split-off will take place through the redemption of Liberty Media’s existing Liberty Braves common stock in exchange for the common stock of a newly formed company to be called “Atlanta Braves Holdings inc.”

All of the businesses, assets, and liabilities currently attributed to the Braves Group will be held by the Atlanta Brave Holding. These include direct or indirect ownership and operation of the Braves, certain assets and liabilities associated with Truist Park, the Braves' Stadium, mixed-use development projects, The Battery Atlanta, and corporate cash.

This, in simpler terms, means that currently an investor can only invest in the Braves through its holding company, Liberty Media. This was done through a sort of financial instrument called "tracking stock", whose performance is based on how the entity performs. With the split-off, the Braves will become an independent entity with people owning the Braves' stock directly.

In relation to the split-off, Liberty Media is expected to redeem every outstanding share of its Series A, Series B, and Series C Liberty Braves common stock for one share of the corresponding series of common stock of Atlanta Braves Holdings. As a result, Liberty Media and the Atlanta Braves will become two different publicly traded companies.

"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", Maffei continued in his statement.

"Atlanta Braves are an attractive asset", says CEO

While discussing the viability of this move, Maffei said that sports teams going public is a new trend that some teams are headed towards. He speculated that the split-off would increase the valuation or buyer interest in the team.

“You may have noticed there’s high demand out there for sports assets. Money is flowing into the ecosystem, with new players of all sorts driving demand,... Among baseball teams, Baltimore and Washington are rumored to be contemplating a sale. We’d argue, I think with some reasons, that the Braves are a far more attractive asset,”