OC residents are hooping it up in the courtroom, in the potential sale of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers.
Tom Dundon, the owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, in August agreed to buy the Trail Blazers for $4 billion from the estate of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
News later emerged Dundon’s bid could be backed in part by the family office and investment firm headed by Andrew and Peggy Cherng, the founders of the Panda Express restaurant chain.
The Cherngs own a secondary home at Dana Point’s Strand community and are big backers of the City of Hope.
Not so fast. A lawsuit filed last month by Newport Beach’s RAJ Sports aims to block the Cherngs’ involvement in the purchase, saying that the Cherngs were initially part of a separate ownership bid for the team led by RAJ Sports and that they breached a contract by joining the Dundon bid without their consent.
RAJ Sports, headed by Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, own the WNBA’s Portland Fire and NWSL’s Portland Thorns.
The Bhathal family already owns a large stake in the Sacramento Kings and would have to sell those interests to buy the Trail Blazers.
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Pimco is looking for a little rub of the green with its most notable sports partnership to date.
The Newport Beach investment giant recently inked a multi-year deal with the Boston Celtics, which makes them the “Official Investment Management Partner” of the basketball team, as well as the “entitlement partner” of the newly named Pimco Parquet Club at Boston’s TD Garden.
Financial terms of the sponsorship weren’t disclosed. The Celtics recently completed their $6.1 billion sale to a private equity firm, reportedly the largest deal ever for an American pro sports team to date.
The entitlement partner deal means that Pimco “will be integrated courtside into one of the most exclusive and high-touch hospitality spaces in the arena,” the firm said.
The Parquet Club “hosts courtside season ticket members, VIPs, and corporate partners – providing a premium experience before, during and after each home game.”
Not mentioned in the press release announcing the deal: Dan Ivascyn, Pimco’s group chief investment officer and one of the worlds’s top bond investment experts, is a native of Massachusetts and reportedly a lifelong fan of Boston sports teams.
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Billionaire Tilman Fertitta is best known for his ownership of the Houston Rockets, though in OC his claim to fame is his ownership of the Montage Laguna Beach, which he bought in 2022 for a reported $650 million.
Fertitta’s new role as U.S. Ambassador to Italy and San Marino kept him away from an event he was set to host last Thursday at the Montage, as the luxe resort celebrated the public opening of its new flagship restaurant, Studio Mediterranean.
Other attendees at the Oct. 9 event included Montage International CEO Alan Fuerstman, R.D. Olson’s Bob Olson, homebuilding exec Craig Atkins and Business Journal Publisher Richard Reisman.
