The San Antonio Spurs logo is seen before the game against the Golden State Warriors in the Third Round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs on April 19, 2018 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.
Noah Graham | National Basketball Federation | Getty Images
Businessman Paul Viera is increasing his stake in the San Antonio Spurs from 5% to 11%, according to CNBC, as NBA valuations rise and make the teams more attractive assets for investors.
About two weeks ago, Viera, founder and CEO of Atlanta-based investment firm Earnest Partners, bought food service company Aramark’s remaining interest in the Spurs at a deep discount in a deal that values the team at $2.5 billion dollars, according to two sources. person familiar with the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information. Some team owners can get significant discounts when they buy small pieces of teams that give them less control over decisions.
Last May, Viera bought a 5% stake in Spurs for an undisclosed enterprise value. But Aramark’s 2023 Annual Report says it sold a portion of its stake in the Spurs for $98.2 million in cash, resulting in a pre-tax loss of $1.1 million during the 2023 fiscal year.
The majority owner of the Spurs is Peter Holt, managing partner of Spurs Sports & Entertainment, which also operates the team’s arena, the Frost Bank Center. The Holts joined the Spurs ownership group in 1996. Other minority owners of the team include Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, Sixth Street Partners, the McCombs family and two-time NBA champion David Robinson, who played for the Spurs from 1989 to 2003.
Paul Viera, investor in the San Antonio Spurs.
Courtesy: NBA
The Spurs have won five NBA titles but haven’t made the postseason since 2019. The team finished 22-60 in 2023-24, last in the Southwest Division, but rising superstar Victor Wembanyama is beginning to turn the team’s basketball around and economic trajectory.
NBA teams are a hot asset thanks in large part to the new league $76 billion, 11-year media deal.
Just two weeks ago, former Milwaukee Bucks star Junior Bridgeman paid an enterprise value of $3.4 billion (equity plus net debt) for a preferred capped discount for 10% of the Bucks in a deal that valued the team at $4 billion, $800 million more than the club was valued at when Jimmy and Dee Haslam bought Marc Lasry’s 25% stake in April 2023.
Sports bankers tell CNBC that the controlling stakes in the Spurs and Bucks are not far apart in value, at about $4 billion.
Both Bridgeman and Viera also add to the growing number of diverse owners in professional basketball.
The NBA has tried to increase the number of owners who are of color or former NBA players.
Former minority stake players include: Grant Hill to the Atlanta Hawks; Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway to the Memphis Grizzlies? Robinson at Spurs. Dwyane Wade to the Utah Jazz. Elliott Perry to the Grizzlies. and Michael Jordan to the Charlotte Hornets.
All eyes are now on the Boston Celtics. Just weeks after winning the NBA Finals, co-owner Wyc Grousbeck announced he was selling his stake in the team in July.
The Grousbeck family is putting its controlling stake in the Boston Celtics on the market, and sources tell CNBC they expect the NBA champions to fetch between $5.5 billion and $6 billion. The Grubecks bought the Celtics for $360 million in 2002.
The NBA declined to comment on Vieira’s investment in the Spurs. Aramark and Earnest Partners did not respond to emails from CNBC about Viera’s investments.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC, is one of the NBA’s partners in the new media rights deal.
