Investor Paul Viera doubles San Antonio Spurs stake

Businessman Paul Viera is increasing his stake in the San Antonio Spurs from 5% to 11%, CNBC has learned, as NBA valuations climb and make teams more attractive assets for investors.

About two weeks ago, Viera, founder and CEO of the Atlanta-based investment firm Earnest Partners, bought out food service company Aramark’s remaining interest in the Spurs at a steep discount in a deal that values the team at $2.5 billion, according to two sources familiar with the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information. Partial team owners can get major discounts when they buy small 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 stake in the Spurs for $98.2 million in cash, resulting in a pretax loss of $1.1 million during fiscal 2023.

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.

The Spurs have won five NBA titles, but have not made the postseason since 2019. The team finished with a 22-60 record in 2023-24, last in the Southwest Division, but rising superstar Victor Wembanyama is starting to change the team’s basketball and financial trajectory.

NBA teams are hot assets thanks in large part to the league’s new $76 billion, 11-year media deal.

Just two weeks ago, former Milwaukee Bucks star Junior Bridgeman paid a $3.4 billion enterprise value (equity plus net debt) for a preferred limited 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% in April 2023.

Sports bankers tell CNBC that controlling stakes in the Spurs and Bucks are not far apart in value, at around $4 billion.

Both Bridgeman and Viera also add to the growing number of diverse owners in pro basketball.

The NBA has tried to increase the number of owners who are people of color or former NBA players.

Former players with a minority stake in teams include: Grant Hill in the Atlanta Hawks; Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway in the Memphis Grizzlies; Robinson in the Spurs; Dwyane Wade in the Utah Jazz; Elliot Perry in the Grizzlies; and Michael Jordan in the Charlotte Hornets.

All eyes now turn to 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 has its controlling stake in the Boston Celtics on the market, and sources tell CNBC they expect the reigning NBA champions to fetch 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 emails from CNBC regarding Viera’s investments.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal, CNBC’s parent company, is one of the NBA’s partners in its new media rights deal.