Steve Cohen, a billionaire hedge fund manager and native New Yorker, is in agreement to buy the Mets, Sterling Partners announced in a press release on Monday.
"I am excited to have reached an agreement with the Wilpon and Katz families to purchase the New York Mets," Cohen said in the statement.
Cohen will be the owner pending MLB approval. Fred Wilpon has been the majority owner since 2002, when he bought out Nelson Doubleday.
According to Newsday's Tim Healey, the deal has the Mets valued at "approximately $2.475 billion." If that number is accurate, it would be a record for a North American sports team after the NFL's Carolina Panthers was purchased by David Tepper at $2.275 billion.
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At the end of August, the 64-year-old -- who was a minority owner of the team -- beat out the Alex Rodriguez-Jennifer Lopez and Josh Harris-David Blitzer groups and was in exclusive talks to buy the Mets.
During a roller-coaster nine months, Cohen's initial bid to purchase a majority stake was announced by Sterling Partners and Cohen Private Ventures in a Dec. 4 statement. But the bid became in jeopardy and was eventually abandoned two months later after hitting a snag.
MLB -- non-Mets -- sources with knowledge of the Cohen negotiation said it wasn't the five-year transition of power that was at issue, according to SNY's Andy Martino, reporting that part of the transaction was a done deal in writing months before talks broke down.
Bloomberg reported at the time that in the wake of the failed negotiations with Cohen, there would be "no preconditions regarding control of the team" as part of the next sale, meaning whoever became majority owner would likely have full control once the sale is complete.
In June, Jeff Wilpon gave an update on the potential sale of the team, and Allen & Company -- the firm handling the sale -- had set July 9 as the date for groups to submit bids, which included Cohen.
Cohen -- a native of Great Neck, NY -- is an investor and hedge fund manager who has founded S.A.C. Capital Advisors and Point72 Asset Management. He had bought a minority stake in the Mets in 2012, owning eight percent.