Thursday, July 02, 1998
Vikings say local woman
out of picture
Shruti Misra did not submit a formal bid by
Wednesday's deadline, ending her try to buy
the Minnesota Vikings.
By Matt Jacob
Review-Journal
The deadline has passed, the bids are in, and Shruti
Misra is out as potential buyer of the Minnesota Vikings.
Misra, the local woman whose interest in purchasing
the NFL team became public last week, didn't submit a
formal bid by Wednesday's deadline, ending any chance
she will be the Vikings' next owner.
However, Misra's husband said Wednesday that
Vikings representative John Mooty told him if nobody
tops Misra's rejected offer of $225 million, he will come
back and negotiate with Misra on Monday.
Mooty denied that, saying the owners intend to deal
only with those who submitted an acceptable bid by
Wednesday. Also, he said he's certain the Vikings will
receive a better bid than Misra's.
"They (Misra and her husband, Anil Gupta) have
stated they'd be willing to come here to Minnesota by air
and discuss it further," said Mooty, legal counsel for the
Vikings' owners, who is handling all bids. "But we're
relatively sure we'll get (an acceptable) bid, so I don't
view (Misra) as an alternative. ... We don't have any
question that we won't receive a bid that will equal or
exceed our minimum."
When the 5 p.m. CDT deadline passed, the bidders
included Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor
and Texas businessman Red McCombs. But team
president Roger Headrick surprisingly backed out of the
process, apparently at the last moment.
Mooty refused to say exactly how many bids had
come in by the deadline, preferring to wait until the
owners began studying the offers this morning.
"We know that there are more than three, but I don't
know how many," owner John Skoglund said. "And I
won't know until (Thursday) morning."
Mooty said the Vikings' owners have established a
minimum sale price of $180 million. Beyond that,
prospective buyers also must agree to assume all of the
team's liabilities.
He said when Misra, who claims to be worth more
than $5 billion, offered $225 million last week, her plan
was to use a portion of the funds to pay off the team's
debt. Because of that, Mooty said the true value of her
offer was approximately $150 million to $160 million --
well short of the $180 million minimum.
Originally, Misra submitted an offer of $180 million,
which didn't include assuming the debt. That was
rejected, so Gupta, negotiating on his wife's behalf,
submitted a second bid for $225 million.
When that was deemed unacceptable, Gupta said
Misra wouldn't go any higher, and she didn't by
Wednesday's deadline.
Even if Misra had submitted a proper bid, it was
doubtful the Vikings' owners would have accepted it
because she stated publicly she might try to move the
club.
Moreover, since Misra's interest became known,
questions have risen about her ability to make such a
purchase.
Despite her purported wealth, which she claims to
have obtained through her family, Misra isn't listed
among the world's billionaires by Forbes Magazine, nor
is anyone with her surname. Also, neither she nor Gupta,
who have lived here eight years, own the northwest Las
Vegas home in which they reside.
In addition, several sources who requested
anonymity have said they've known Gupta and Misra for
several years and have never seen any evidence of vast
wealth.
Mooty said he has read the reports questioning
Misra's fortune, but never checked into her or Gupta's
background because an adequate bid was never
submitted.
"I haven't met them. Everything's been done over the
telephone or by fax, so I don't have the benefit of
knowing (what is true) or not," Mooty said. "But based
on some of the stories I've seen, there are some serious
questions. ... I hate to draw any conclusions, but the
information in the stories tends to be devastating."
Gupta and Misra have said the reason nobody is
aware of their financial status is because they keep their
assets secret for security reasons and they value their
privacy.
Yet last month, after Misra pledged $5.1 million to
Active Blind and Visually Impaired of Nevada, she and
Gupta insisted the Las Vegas-based, non-profit charity
pay for an advertisement trumpeting the donation. The
ad, which included Misra's picture, ran in the May 24
Review-Journal and cost Evelyn Fleet, the executive
director of Active Blind, $568 of her own money.
Gupta said this week his wife's family requested the
ad to publicize the charity, not Misra.
As for the pledge, Fleet said she hasn't received any
money, only a deed to land in northern Nevada and
three stock certificates. She doesn't know the value of
either.
Meanwhile, the only person connected to Misra
who has vouched for her wealth has been Stephen
Hammer, chief financial officer for U.S. Guarantee
Corp. of Scottsdale, Ariz.
Hammer, whose company secured bonds to help
Misra buy the Vikings, said he has thoroughly checked
into Misra's background and come away satisfied.
In her only public comments, Misra said she wanted
to buy the Vikings "because my husband's interested.
That's his dream."
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