Matt Ichpia, 42, billionaire owner of Pontiac-based United Wholesale Mortgage and former Michigan basketball walk-on who was part of the 2000 national championship team, is finalizing the purchase of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, reports ESPN Insider. . Adrian Vojnarowski.
“BREAKING: Billionaire mortgage lender Matt Ichpia is in the process of finalizing the purchase of the Phoenix Suns,” Wojnarowski wrote on Twitter. The transaction, expected to close in the near future, will end the turbulent period for owner Robert Sarver.
According to ESPN, the purchase price is in the region of $4 billion and includes the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
Free Press has reached out to an Ishbia representative, but has not yet received a response.
Ishbia has been looking for a professional sports team for some time. Last month he said Was thinking of trying For NFL leaders in Washington, back in the spring, she reportedly tried To buy the Denver Broncos.
Robert Sarver, the current Suns owner, is practically being forced to sell the organization after publishing a series of reports last year detailing a toxic workplace culture the owner has fostered for years, including racist and sexist comments and behavior toward employees.
in September, The NBA suspended Sarver and fined him $10 million After the league’s investigation found him responsible for “workplace misconduct and organizational shortcomings”. Later that month, Sarver announced his desire to sell the team after purchasing it for $401 million in 2004.
Ishbia UWM recently surpassed Detroit-based Dan Gilbert’s Rocket Mortgage is the nation’s best-selling mortgage lender by volume.
While Ichpia’s father, Jeffrey Ichpia, started what became UWM in 1986, nearly all of the company’s growth occurred after Matt became CEO and took the reins on a day-to-day basis in 2013.
UWM is still a less household name than Rocket Mortgage because it does not offer direct-to-consumer mortgages. Instead, its business model is to guarantee loans to independent mortgage brokers, known as “wholesale” lending.
UWM went public in January 2021 by merging with the blank check company, known as SPAC, which belongs to Alec Gores, older brother of Pistons owner Tom Gores.
Pistons Isiah Thomas sits on the nine-member UWM board of directors.
Last year, Ishbia donated $32 million to MSU for a new football building. Then in the fall, he helped extend football coach Mel Tucker’s contract, making him one of the highest paid players in the sport.
This purchase continues Ishbia’s rivalry with senior MSU alum Gilbert, who has been the majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers since 2005.
Ishbia has been bidding for years for Gilbert’s title as owner of the largest mortgage lender in the country, ahead of all major banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America.
his UWM He finally outsmarted Gilbert’s missile In the third quarter of this year, approximately $33.5 billion in mortgage loans were reported to amount to $25.6 billion in mortgages.
The Athletic Club’s Shams El Sharania reports that Ishbia will bring in his brother, Justin, as a major investor for the sale.
Eshpia is a 1998 graduate of Seaholm High School in Birmingham and was a member of the 1998-2002 MSU Spartans basketball team, which won the 2000 NCAA Championship under head coach Tom Izzo.
Eshpea was a walk-on third guard on the team, but was awarded a scholarship by his senior year and continued for another year as a graduate assistant coach.
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