Russia’s richest man has a deal to buy a controlling interest in the New Jersey Nets and nearly half of a project to build the NBA team’s new arena in Brooklyn.
Mikhail Prokhorov will be the first non-North American NBA owner.
Prokhorov’s Onexim Group announced the deal on Wednesday with Forest City Ratner Companies and Nets Sports and Entertainment. They say they have signed a letter of intent to create a partnership for the development of the Atlantic Yards Project.
According to the agreement, entities to be formed by Onexim Group will invest US$200 million and make certain funding commitments to acquire 80 percent of the NBA team, 45 percent of the arena project and the right to purchase up to 20 percent of the Atlantic Yards Development Company, which will develop the non-arena real estate.
NBA commissioner David Stern praised the move, saying it will help the NBA expand globally and ensures that the Nets, whose current principal owner is Bruce Ratner, will have a new arena.
“Interest in basketball and the NBA is growing rapidly on a global basis, and we are especially encouraged by Mr Prokhorov’s commitment to the Nets and the opportunity it presents to continue the growth of basketball in Russia,” Stern said in a statement.
The NBA will review the proposal, and the deal must be approved by three-fourths of the NBA’s board of governors.
Ratner and Prokhorov said in the joint statement they hope to have the sale completed by the first quarter of next year.
“I have a long-standing passion for basketball and pursuing interests that forward the development of the sport in Russia,” Prokhorov said in a statement. “I look forward to becoming a member of the NBA and working with Bruce and his talented team to bring the Nets to Brooklyn.”
Stern said the league was looking forward to the Nets’ move to a state-of-the-art facility in Brooklyn. The team currently plays at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a building that opened about 30 years ago.
Prokhorov, who owns a share in the Russian basketball team CSKA, was ranked as the country’s richest man in the Russian edition of Forbes, with an estimated fortune of US$9.5 billion. He has weathered the global economic crisis better than many of his wealthy compatriots by cashing out of some lucrative assets before the downturn battered commodity markets.
Prokhorov’s interest in basketball isn’t only as a spectator. The 44-year-old was an avid player in his high school and university years.
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