Milwaukee Bucks Will Be Sold for $550 Million

The NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks will be sold for $550 million, the team announced in a press conference Wednesday.

The team’s owner of 29 years, former U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, said he wanted to establish a succession plan. Marc Lasry of Avenue Capital Management and Wesley Edens, co-founder of Fortress Investment Group LLC are buying the team from Kohl, Bloomberg reports.

“Marc and I are very pure in our ambitions to be good owners,” Edens said. “We are delighted to be in Milwaukee and we want to stay in Milwaukee. I think there’s no doubt this market can be successful.”

Kohl agreed to give a gift of $100 to Milwaukee toward the building of a new basketball arena for the team. The new owners also pledged at least that amount toward construction costs.

“I’m very optimistic, even more so than I can express, about the future of basketball in this city,” Kohl said. “They have embraced that concept that this is Milwaukee’s team.”

The deal is still subject to the approval of the owners of the NBA’s 29 other teams.

[Bloomberg]