Not all team owners are created equal.
A prime example is the pending sale of the Phoenix Suns by controlling partner Robert Sarver, who owns about 35% of the NBA team. Minority investors in the Suns include private equity honcho Jahm Najafi, marketing entrepreneur Sam Garvin, former pro tennis star Andrew Kohlberg, longtime Arizona Cardinals great Larry Fitzgerald and Dyal HomeCourt Partners, which is managed by the private equity firm Blue Owl.
Among the minority investors, Dyal has an ace up its sleeve because it’s the only one with tag-along rights, according to a source with knowledge of the terms of the deal. That means that when Sarver sells his stake, Dyal can sell its interest at the same time. This is important because Sarver (and Dyal) will get a controlling valuation for the Suns. Should the next Suns purchaser decide not to buy out the rest of the minority investors, those investors would be stuck with stakes that would be calculated based on minority discount valuations. Minority interests are typically sold at lower valuations because they don’t include any say in how the team is run.
Dyal purchased its 4.9% interest in the Suns in July 2021 at a minority-stake-discounted $1.55 billion team valuation that, if a controlling interest were sold, would mean the team was worth around $1.8 billion. One might think that based on that difference, Dyal paid a premium for the tag-along rights. But a source familiar with the terms of the deal tells Forbes that the $1.55 billion minority-interest deal between Dyal and the Suns was priced before the end of 2020 even though it was announced in July 2021. That means Dyal got a pandemic discount.
Although Forbes valued the Suns at $1.8 billion a year ago, the league’s revenue is expected to top $10 billion for the 2021-22 season. That’s a record—it’s the league’s first full slate of games and fans permitted at full capacity in arenas in three seasons. With the NBA’s finances back on their pre-Covid trajectory, team values are also climbing. In August, a minority-stake sale in the Utah Jazz valued the team at $2.25 billion, 35% more than Ryan Smith paid for controlling interest in 2020.
Speculation on the Suns sale amount is all over the place, from at least $2.5 billion to more than $4 billion. One factor that might push up the selling price is that a new owner would only have to buy 40% of the team—Sarver and Dyal’s interests—to be the boss. There’s a lot more people who can afford to bid for 40% of the Suns than 100%.
Such a scenario might be risky for the incoming owner as they would almost certainly have some unhappy minority partners. But Dyal would come out looking pretty savvy.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2022/10/13/with-sale-of-phoenix-suns-one-minority-investor-has-an-ace-up-its-sleeve/