Tom Hicks

Thomas Ollis Hicks, Sr. (born in 1946), is an American businessman living in Dallas, Texas. According to Forbes Magazine 2009, Hicks has an estimated wealth of USD1 billion. Hicks co-founded the investment firm, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, and is chairman of Hicks Holdings LLC, which owns and operates Hicks Sports Group, the company that formerly owned the Texas Rangers, currently owns the Dallas Stars, Mesquite Championship Rodeo and also owns fifty percent of the English football club Liverpool FC.

Biography

The son of a Texas radio station owner John Hicks, Hicks was born in Dallas, Texas. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School,^[1] in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1964. Hicks is a brother of Sigma Phi Epsilon,^[2] received his Bachelor's degree in Finance from the University of Texas in 1968, and received his MBA from the University of Southern California in 1970.^[3]

Hicks became interested in leveraged buyouts as a member of First National Bank of Austin's venture capital group. Hicks and Robert Haas formed Hicks & Haas in 1984. The next year that firm bought Hicks Communications, a radio outfit run by Hicks' brother Steven – the first of several media companies bought or created by the buyout firm that involved Steven (Capstar, Chancellor, and AMFM).

Hicks & Haas' in the mid-1980s bought several soft drink makers, including Dr Pepper and 7 Up. The firm took Dr Pepper/7 Up public just 18 months after merging the two companies. In all, Hicks & Haas turned $88 million of investor funding into $1.3 billion. The pair went their separate ways in May 1989.^[4] Hicks wanted to raise large pools to invest, while Haas preferred to work with investors deal by deal.^[5]

In 1989, Hicks co-founded the investment firm, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst with former Prudential Securities banker John Muse. The firm raised $250 million, with early investments including a life insurance company, Life Partners Group (bought in 1990 and sold in 1996). In 1991, Morgan Stanley's Charles Tate and First Boston's Jack Furst became partners. Hicks was chairman from 1989 to 2004, Hicks Muse raised $12 billion of private equity funds, consummated over $50 billion of leveraged acquisitions, and grew to become one of the largest private investment firms in the country.^[6]

But Hicks Muse hit a rough patch by the early 2000s, when investors in Equity Fund IV were burned by a $1.2 billion plunge into telecom investments in 1999. Hicks announced that he would leave the Hicks Muse on March 8, 2004, to spend more time with his family and his sports teams. (Hicks Muse was subsequently renamed HM Capital Partners.)

However, Hicks has remained active in his own ventures. He created Hicks Holdings, a vehicle for his billion-dollar sports and real estate empire, and then started buying companies again in the $10 to $250 million level, including:^[7] a Chinese electronics firm, a venture with DirecTV selling bundled TV-telecom services to condos, a landscaping materials company in the Midwest, a pet food firm in Argentina, and Gammaloy – an oil field rental outfit he bought from his wife's family, paying approximately $20 million in the 1990s.

Additionally, he formed Hicks Acquisition Company I, Inc. (HACI). In September 2009, HACI merged into Resolute Energy Corporation (REN), an oil and gas firm.^[8] Hicks is not on REN's board of directors, but his son, Thomas O. Hicks, Jr., represents HACI on the board.

As of 13th August 2010, the website for Hicks Sports Group appears to have disappeared, as for other websites for Hicks companies, whilst they are still operating, they appear to be empty of any data^[9] and Hicks Sports Marketing now appears to be a Word Press blog site, with the first page advertising Online Gaming^[10]

Politics

Hicks was recently a member of the political action committee for the 2008 presidential election campaign for former Republican Mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani.^[11]

Tom Hicks Elementary School

Tom Hicks Elementary School in Frisco, Texas, part of the Lewisville Independent School District, was given its name after Hicks donated the necessary land for the school.^[12]

Sports

Hicks moved from the business pages to the sports section in December 1995 when he bought the National Hockey League Dallas Stars for $82 million.^[13]

Corinthians

In 1999, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst entered into a partnership with Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, a successful Brazilian club team. Club directors and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst assured the fans that a new stadium was in development, but this never materialized. After legal/financial troubles and partner infighting, Hicks retired from the company and the ownership group eventually left the partnership with Corinthians.

Dallas Stars

Seven Division Championships, two Western Conference crowns, two Presidents' Trophies as the team with the best regular season record, two consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Finals and the 1999 Stanley Cup Championship are the highlights of the Dallas Stars' rapid ascent in the 13 years since Thomas O. Hicks contracted to purchase the hockey club in December 1995. Mr. Hicks serves as the Stars' Chairman of the Board and the club's representative on the NHL Board of Governors, and also played an instrumental role in the development and planning of American Airlines Center.^[3]

Texas Rangers

In June 1998, Hicks became the Chairman and Owner of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club of the Major League Baseball’s American League. Under Hicks ownership, the Rangers won the American League West Division crown in 1998 and 1999, but failed to deliver a World Series. After retirement from Hicks Muse Tate and Furst, and with the Rangers finished in last place in its division in 2003, Hicks promised to rebuild the team, shipping Alex Rodriguez ($252 million over 10 years) to the New York Yankees. Hicks serves on the Board of Directors of MLB Advanced Media, the internet-based subsidiary of Major League Baseball.

On January 23 it was announced Hicks had agreed to sell the Rangers to a group led by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan. Hicks will be a minority share holder in the new ownership group.^[14]

Prior to bids being placed by potential buyers, Hicks told the media the Rangers here operating under normal business with no interference from MLB. Regarding the Rangers' inability to sign 2010 first round pick Matt Purke, he said, "We were disappointed that the family insisted on $6 million. The Texas Rangers were not willing to do that. It had nothing to do with MLB restrictions. There is a clear misimpression we didn't sign Matt Purke because MLB wouldn't let us. That's not true. We didn't because of Tom Hicks, Nolan Ryan and Jon Daniels. We were not willing to go to $6 million."^[15] After his group had completed the purchase agreement, Nolan Ryan told the media the Rangers were not able to offer the 1st round pick the 6 million dollar signing bonus both parties had agreed to verbally after the draft because MLB, who were strictly overseeing the Rangers budget by this time, wouldn't approve the amount needed to sign Purke.^[16]

After the announcement of the pending sale by Hicks Sports Group, several additional hurdles have occurred which would have to be remedied before the sale of the team can be finalized. Several of the lenders, who are owed over $500 million, have vocally objected to the deal accusing Hicks of rejecting a higher offer by Jim Crane and have stated they would not sign off on the deal.^[17] Also, Hicks has been sued by 3 different parties over the land adjacent to the stadium that was sold in a separate transaction as a part of the purchase by Greenberg and Ryan.^[18][19]

On May 24 Hicks and HSG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection/separation of the Texas Rangers from HSG and asked the courts to approve of the sale of the Rangers to the group headed by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan. The move was made to expedite the sale and resolve the sale prior to the MLB trade deadline and draft signing deadline.^[20]

Emails presented in court show that after Hicks agreed to an exclusive negotiation period with Greenberg attorneys for HSG were still in discussion with another bidder, Dennis Crane, about a sale price for the team and emailed the creditors on December 31, 2009 saying "Basically, the response from the MLB was to prohibit us from negotiating with anyone other than Greenberg. Their intent seems to be to lock us into Greenberg even though Crane now has a clearly superior economic deal -- and may always have had based on Greenberg's current position. We need help here. Unless the lenders weigh in, we are going to be stuck negotiating a deal that is clearly worse than Crane's."^[21][22]

Liverpool F.C.

On February 1, 2007, it was made known through the English press that he was involved in a consortium with one-time friend and Montreal Canadiens owner George N. Gillett Jr. to purchase English Premiership club Liverpool F.C; this takeover proposal was believed to be the front runner after Dubai International Capital withdrew their bid.^[23] On February 6, 2007, Hicks & Gillett's joint offer for Liverpool was formally accepted, valuing the club at £218.9m ($432.9m) (£5,000 per share and £44.8m in debt).^[24] Liverpool became the third FA Premier League club to be acquired by U.S. businessmen, the others being Aston Villa and Manchester United. After the bid was accepted, Hicks stated his foremost priority was gaining silverware, and vowed to build a new stadium for the club at Stanley Park Stadium. The plans to build the stadium were edited and currently the stadium is not being built.

On January 22, 2008 a majority of Liverpool fans, at the game between Liverpool and Aston Villa, protested against Gillett and Hicks' running of the club, urging the pair to sell their shares in Liverpool FC to DIC. Neither owner, nor their representative Foster Gillett were present at the game. Gillett has reportedly been targeted by DIC to sell his shares. It has been reported that he has fallen out with Tom Hicks and in recent months has kept silent over his dealing with the club.^[25] On March 7, 2008, it was reported that Gillett had agreed to sell 98 per cent of his Liverpool stock to DIC,^[26] but Hicks blocked the sale.^[27] In an interview on Prime Time Sports in Canada, Gillett revealed that he and his family had received death threats from angry Liverpool fans: The fans don’t want him (Tom Hicks) to have even one share of my stake in the club, based on what they are sending to me. As a result of that we [my family] have received many phone calls in the middle of the night threatening our lives, death threats. A number came to the office and my son, Foster, and daughter-in-law, Lauren, have received them..^[28] On 16 April, the club was put up for sale.^[29] Hicks later claimed that he believed the club had tripled in value during his tenure,^[30] and boasted that he would be looking for a price of four times what he purchased his stake for.^[31] On 16 June 2010, Walton MP Steve Rotherham tabled a motion in the House of Commons expressing dismay at the continuing ownership of the club. Tom Hicks and co-owner George Gillett were described as "asset strippers" and the club was being "drained by their greed"^[32]

Philanthropy

Hicks was the 1996 co-chair of the "Dallas Jewish Coalition for the Homeless "Vogel Alcove" project", and received the 2000 "Henry Cohn Humanitarian Award" from the Anti-Defamation League.^[33]

References

External links

• Bio at Dallas Stars
• Hicks Holdings Official Website

Private equity and venture capital investors Investment strategy Buyout · Venture · Growth · Mezzanine · Secondaries History History of private equity and venture capital · Early history of private equity · Private equity in the 1980s · Private equity in the 1990s · Private equity in the 2000s Investor types Private equity investors · Venture capitalists · Corporate raiders