American mortagate lending business tycoon Mat Ishbia announces takeover of Phoenix Suns..

2022-12-21 19:19

American mortagate lending business tycoon Mat Ishbia announces takeover of Phoenix Suns..




The Athletic's resident renowned American reporter Shams Charania reported on Wednesday Asia time that the owner of the American mortgage lender Mat Ishbia officially announced that he has completed the takeover of NBA team Phoenix Suns and their WNBA franchise, Phoenix Mercury.


According to the report, former Suns owner, Mercury Group chairman Robert Sarver has agreed to sell most of his shares of the Suns and Mercury teams to mortagage lending business tycoon United Mortgage Wholesale (UMW Holdings) jointly owned by Ishbia and his brother Justin at a market value of $4 billion.


The deal is currently at the stage whereby is will be officially completed after the NBA and WNBA officials and the other chairmens of participating teams in the respective leagues approve the deal. In addition, once the transaction is completed, the Ishbia brothers will become the new largest shareholders of the Suns and Mercury.


The 42-year-old Mat Ishbia was born on January 6, 1980 in a Jewish family in Birmingham, Michigan. The family has already engaged in the mortgage lending business for a long time.


The Ishbia brothers' UMW Holdings is a listed mortgage company headquartered in Michigan, USA. As chairman and CEO, Mat, who was on the Forbes Rich List in America in 2020, owns 77% of the company's shares, while younger brother Justin owns 22% of the company.


It is worth mentioning that Mat Ishbia studied at Michigan State University. While studying, he played for the university's basketball team. Michigan reached the semifinals for three straight years during his time and won the All-American in 2000.


In November last year, Robert Sarver was criticized by people working in the NBA and WNBA industry after receiving more than 70 accusations of his hatred of African-American black players, staff and sexual harassment of female colleagues. In September of this year, NBA comissioner Adam Silver and all other participating team's chairmens jointly initiated a motion to remove him as the owner of the Suns and Mercury franchises.