Suns minority owners Kisco WC Sports and Kent Circle Investments have “taken the Suns to court in Delaware over frustrations about transparency and access to information,” according to Kurt Helin of NBCSPORTS.com. When Mat Ishbia purchased a controlling interest in the Suns, he “offered to buy out any of the team’s 16 minority owners,” using the $4B valuation of the team “to set the price.” However, Kisco and Kent Circle in the court papers claim that they have “not had access to view basic information about the franchise, including how it has been run and some of the investments that Ishbia and the Suns have made, such as a new practice facility.” With that, the minority owners “don’t believe they have an understanding of what their shares are worth.” They are asking the court to “allow them to investigate what they perceive as potential violations of the limited liability company agreement, as well as conflicts of interest.” This suit appears to be, “at least in part, an effort to gain leverage in talks for Ishbia to buy out these minority owners.” A letter from the attorneys for Ishbia’s Suns to the attorneys for the minority owners states that the Suns do “not have an issue with the two groups selling their shares to outside groups, but that the Suns LLC will not buy them out at a higher valuation than the team was purchased for” (NBCSPORTS.com, 8/27).
