An investor group led by William Chisholm closed on its acquisition of a majority control position in the Boston Celtics. Chisholm will serve as governor of the franchise, while Wyc Grousbeck and Aditya Mittal will be alternate governors.
Grousbeck, whose family bought the team in 2002 for $360 million, will remain as CEO and run day-to-day operations with Chisholm. The NBA unanimously approved the deal last week.
In March, Chisholm reached an agreement to buy the 18-time NBA champions in two stages, which was the stated goal when ownership hired BDT & MSD and JPMorgan Chase to sell the team in 2024. The deal valued the team at $6.1 billion in the first payment, a tick ahead of the Washington Commanders’ 2023 sale for $6.05 billion, which was the previous most expensive control sale in sports team history. In June, Mark Walter reached a deal to buy the Los Angeles Lakers at a $10 billion valuation, but the agreement has not been approved or closed.
Mittal is the CEO of ArcelorMittal and a member of one of India’s richest families. He is the second largest stakeholder in Chisholm’s group, and the son of Lakshmi Mittal, who serves as executive chairman of $62 billion-in-revenue ArcelorMittal, the world’s second-largest steel and mining company after China’s state-owned Baowu. Lakshmi started Mittal Steel in the late 1980s and merged the company with France’s Arcelor in 2006. He is worth $26 billion, according to Bloomberg.
The investment group also includes Rob Hale, who was a previous Celtics investor and is raising his stake in the deal, as well as Bruce A. Beal Jr., president of Related Companies. Other investors are Andrew Bialecki, Dom Ferrante, Mario Ho and Ian Loring.
Private equity giant Sixth Street was part of Chisholm’s initial group when the agreement was reached. The firm, which also owns a stake in the San Antonio Spurs, will be the third-largest shareholder, just behind Mittal. The NBA’s private equity rules cap the stake that a single firm can own at 20% of the team.
Existing Celtics shareholder Steve Pagliuca is also staying on as an investor through 2027-28 when the second stage of Chisholm’s purchase is expected to trigger. Pagliuca was one of four finalists to buy the Celtics and has pivoted to try and acquire the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun. Pagliuca called the new owners “excellent stewards” for the franchise in a lengthy statement posted on social media.