Phoenix Suns Sold...

[Franklinnoble]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1783258

Associated Press
PHOENIX -- Real estate and banking executive Robert Sarver is heading an ownership group that plans to buy the Phoenix Suns for $401 million, the Suns announced Friday.

The amount is a record for an NBA franchise, the Suns said.

Sarver, 42, who lives in San Diego but is a Tucson native, is chairman and chief executive of Western Alliance Bancorporation. He is also the founder of Southwest Value Partners, a major San Diego real estate investment company.

Jerry Colangelo will remain as the Suns' chairman and chief executive.

Two members of the new ownership group are former University of Arizona star and NBA player Steve Kerr and Bryan Colangelo, Jerry Colangelo's son and the team's president and general manager.

Additional investors will be named later, the Suns said.

Sarver will be the major investor and managing partner of the new group that will purchase the Suns over the next three years.

A 1982 graduate of the University of Arizona, Sarver founded National Bank of Arizona at age 23 in 1984 and served as its president until its sale to Zions Bancorporation.

Colangelo has talked for some time about easing out of the sports empire he built in the desert.

In January, he hired Lehman Brothers to put together a plan to sell the team. He hoped to find a minority owner that would have the right to buy full ownership in several years.

The prospective purchase will be voted on at an investors meeting next Friday.

Colangelo came to Phoenix 36 years ago as the 28-year-old general manager of the expansion Suns.

In 1987, he put together an investment group that bought the franchise for $44.5 million.

Colangelo also headed the move to bring major league baseball to Phoenix and until recently was managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

He remains the baseball team's chairman and chief executive after a restructuring of the franchise's ownership this year.

Colangelo also spearheaded the move to build America West Arena and Bank One Ballpark, revitalizing long-neglected downtown Phoenix.