NBA: Milwaukee Bucks owner sells team for $550M

Milwaukee Bucks longtime owner Herb Kohl confirmed Wednesday (Thursday, PHL time) that he reached an agreement to sell the NBA franchise to hedge-fund billionaires Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry.

The purchase price is estimated at $550 million, ESPN.com reported.

The announcement came before the Bucks' regular-season finale in the BMO Harris Bradley Center against the Atlanta Hawks. The Bucks will finish this season with the worst record in the NBA.

In January, Forbes valued the Bucks at $405 million, last among the league's 30 franchises.

Kohl, a former U.S. Senator, announced in December that he was searching for additional investors to take the franchise into the future. He made a condition of a sale that the team would remain in Milwaukee.

An ownership transfer would be subject to league approval. Kohl bought the Bucks for $18 million in 1985.

Edens is the co-founder of the Fortress Investment Group LLC, based in New York. According to federal Securities & Exchange Commission documents, the firm has $61.8 billion in assets under management, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Lasry is the chairman, CEO and co-founder of Avenue Capital Group. As of March 31, 2014, the firm had $13.6 billion in assets under management. - Reuters