The Sports Xchange
Milwaukee Bucks longtime owner Herb Kohl confirmed Wednesday that he reached an agreement to sell the NBA franchise to hedge-fund billionaires Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry.
The purchase price is estimated at $550 million, ESPN.com reported.
The announcement came before the Bucks' regular-season finale in the BMO Harris Bradley Center against the Atlanta Hawks. The Buckswill finish this season with the worst record in the NBA.
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In January, Forbes valued the Bucks at $405 million, last among the league's 30 franchises.
Kohl, a former U.S. Senator, announced in December that he was searching for additional investors to take the franchise into the future. He made a condition of a sale that the team would remain in Milwaukee.
An ownership transfer would be subject to league approval. Kohl bought the Bucks for $18 million in 1985.
Edens is the co-founder of the Fortress Investment Group LLC, based in New York. According to federal Securities & Exchange Commission documents, the firm has $61.8 billion in assets under management, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Lasry is the chairman, CEO and co-founder of Avenue Capital Group. As of March 31, 2014, the firm had $13.6 billion in assets under management.
