Final bids to buy Mets are due Aug. 31, sources confirm

The Mets’ sale process seems to be nearing a conclusion.

Final bids for the club are due Aug. 31, sources confirmed. Those involved were alerted to the deadline Tuesday in a letter from Allen & Co., the Manhattan-based boutique investment bank overseeing the process on behalf of the Wilpon and Katz families.

The bidding seems to be down to the same three competitors who have been after the Mets for months: hedge-fund multibillionaire Steve Cohen, a Great Neck native; private equity duo Josh Harris and David Blitzer, who already own the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and NHL’s New Jersey Devils; and a group of investors fronted by celebrity couple Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez, who are joined by Vitaminwater co-founder Mike Repole and Florida Panthers owner Vincent Viola.

Among the other information sought by Allen & Co., according to Sportico, which first reported the last-bid deadline: each group’s source of financing and a list of members.

The perceived favorite long has been Cohen, a Mets minority owner who has a reported net worth of $13 billion. In December, the team announced that he was in talks to increase his stake in the team to up to 80%. That deal collapsed in February — due to questions over who would control the team — but valued the Mets at $2.6 billion, which would have been a baseball record.

Involved parties have been publicly quiet in recent weeks as the bidders reviewed the Mets’ finances and took tours of Citi Field. That piece of the process was less critical to Cohen, who had access to the important information during his first go-around last year and who is already familiar with the Mets’ inner workings as a minority owner.

Sterling Equities — the Wilpon-Katz family business — intends to retain its stake in SNY despite wanting to part with the team itself.

With Jim Baumbach