The San Antonio Spurs logo is seen before the game against the Golden State Warriors in game three of the first round of the 2018 NBA playoffs on April 19, 2018 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.
Noah Graham | National Basketball Association | Getty Images
Businessman Paul Viera is increasing his stake in the San Antonio Spurs from 5% to 11%, CNBC has learned, as NBA valuations rise and make the teams more attractive assets for investors.
About two weeks ago, Viera, founder and chief executive of Atlanta-based investment firm Earnest Partners, bought food-service company Aramark’s remaining stake in the Spurs at a deep discount in a deal that values the team at $2.5 billion, according to two sources familiar with the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information. Partial team owners can get deep discounts when they buy smaller pieces of teams that give them less control over decisions.
Last May, Viera bought a 5% stake in the Spurs for an undisclosed enterprise value. But Aramark’s 2023 annual report says it sold a portion of its Spurs stake for $98.2 million in cash, resulting in a pre-tax loss of $1.1 million for the 2023 fiscal year.
The Spurs' majority owner 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 change the team’s financial and basketball trajectory.
NBA teams are highly attractive assets in large part thanks to the league's new 11-year, $76 billion 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 on 10% of the Bucks in a deal that valued the team at $4 billion — $800 million more than the club was valued when Jimmy and Dee Haslam purchased Marc Lasry’s 25% stake in April 2023.
Sports bankers told CNBC that the majority stakes in the Spurs and Bucks are not far apart in value, at around $4 billion.
Both Bridgeman and Viera also join the growing number of diverse owners in professional basketball.
The NBA has attempted to increase the number of owners who are people of color or former NBA players.
Former players with minority ownership interests in teams include: Grant Hill of the Atlanta Hawks; Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway of the Memphis Grizzlies; Robinson of the Spurs; Dwyane Wade of the Utah Jazz; Elliot Perry of the Grizzlies; and Michael Jordan of the Charlotte Hornets.
Now all eyes are on the Boston Celtics. Just weeks after winning the NBA Finals, co-owner Wyc Grousbeck announced he would sell his stake in the team in July.
The Grousbeck family is selling its majority stake in the Boston Celtics, and sources told CNBC they expect the reigning NBA champions to be valued between $5.5 billion and $6 billion. The Grousbecks bought the Celtics for $360 million in 2002.
The NBA declined to comment on Viera's investment in the Spurs. Aramark and Earnest Partners did not respond to CNBC's emails about Viera's investments.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC, is one of the NBA's partners in its new media rights deal.
