The NBA recently authorized pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to enter the capital of its franchises. Nevertheless, Adam Silver and league officials were careful to set limits and safeguards to prevent these funds from gaining effective control of clubs.
In the Great League, a fund can only own 20% of the shares of a franchise, and only invest in five different franchises. What limit the appetite of these gigantic investment funds.
And it is in Washington that they set foot for the first time since Sportico and The Athletic announce that the “Qatar Investment Authority”, the sovereign investment fund of the emirate of Qatar, in particular owner of Paris Saint-Germain, has acquired shares in “Monumental Sports and Entertainment”, the parent company which manages the Washington Wizards (NBA), Washington Capitals (NHL) and the Washington Mystics (WNBA).
QIA would thus have got hold of 5% of “Monumental Sports and Entertainment”, valued at 4.05 billion dollars. That is an investment of around 200 million dollars.
The agreement, however, must now be validated by the “Board of Governors” of the NBA.
