Alex Rodriguez and his business partner Marc Lore have found a new financial backer to try to complete its majority purchase of the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves after losing its previous expected partner.
Rodriguez, the former Yankees superstar, and Lore, an entrepreneur, lost the financial backing of the Carlyle Group investment firm, which according to current majority Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor was going to provide them $300 million.
But The Athletic reported Wednesday afternoon that the pair is getting backing from Dyal Capital Partners, and they have submitted the necessary financial documents to the NBA for approval.
The duo had been buying the Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx in installments, and their final payment was due March 27, according to ESPN.
“They had an equity group that was going to come in and put in $300 million, and that equity group has either withdrawn or the NBA has denied them,” Taylor told reporter David Shama regarding the Carlyle Group. “They have to go out and find new revenue. That I do know. I don’t know if they found it or what they’re going to do. We haven’t seen the schedule of ownership yet.”
NBA spokesman Mike Bass told the Star Tribune that the league “did not deny Carlyle’s proposed investment in the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx.”
Rodriguez and Lore first purchased 20 percent of the teams in 2021, setting up what would ultimately be a $1.5 billion deal, and acquired an additional 20 percent last March.
This next payment will give them another 40 percent for a total of 80 percent, making them the majority owners.
Rodriguez, 48, has frequently attended Timberwolves games and last month went viral when, while sitting next to girlfriend Jaclyn Cordeiro, sported a darker-than-usual tan.
“All right everybody, I know that I’m dark, but I am Dominican, and I went on vacation and I fell asleep in the sun. So everybody calm down,” Rodriguez explained on Instagram.
Taylor, a former Minnesota state senator, purchased the Timberwolves in 1994.
