Red Sox parent ends deal talks with Billy Beane's SPAC - Axios

Jan 25 (Reuters) - The parent company of the Boston Red Sox has ended talks to sell a minority stake to RedBall Acquisition Corp, a blank-check firm co-chaired by baseball executive Billy Beane, news website Axios reported on Monday.

An alternative investment, structured more like private equity, remains possible, the report said, citing multiple sources.

Boston Red Sox owner John Henry was in talks with RedBall to take his sports-holding company Fenway Sports Group LLC public, according to media reports last year.

The agreement that was being discussed would have merged Fenway Sports Group with RedBall in a deal that would have valued the owner of the Liverpool Football Club at around $8 billion, including debt.

RedBall, a special purpose acquisition company, is co-chaired by former Goldman Sachs banker Gerald Cardinale and Beane, who shot to fame with Michael Lewis's book "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game."

The SPAC had raised $500 million in its initial public offering last year.

Redball and Fenway Sports Group did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)