Report: Bruce Ratner is selling Barclays Center and Nets stakes to Mikhail Prokhorov

December 2, 2015 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Bruce Ratner is reportedly selling his stakes in Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets, shown here as Brook Lopez (second from left) and his crew face off at home against the Phoenix Suns in a Dec. 1 game. AP Photo/Kathy Willens

Share this:

Barclays Center developer Bruce Ratner is saying Bye, Bye, Bye, to his stake in the popular arena and the Brooklyn Nets basketball team.

Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is saying Buy, Buy, Buy.

According to two sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations, Ratner’s Forest City Enterprises Inc. has reached an agreement with Prokhorov’s Onexim Sports & Entertainment that would give the Russian sole ownership of the arena and the team, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Prokhorov owns 45 percent of Barclays Center and 80 percent of the B-Ball team. Forest City owns the remaining stakes.

The National Basketball Association is reviewing Ratner’s deal, Bloomberg News reported.

The reported deal would make it easier for Prokhorov to sell minority stakes in the team and arena — or sell them outright.

Jeff Linton, a Forest City spokesman, declined to comment about the reported agreement when the Brooklyn Eagle asked about it on Wednesday.

Barry Baum, a spokesman for the Nets, didn’t immediately respond to a query from the Eagle.

Reports surfaced in October 2014 that Forest City Enterprise was putting its 55 percent stake in Barclays Center up for sale, the Eagle previously reported. The real estate firm’s 20 percent stake in the Nets went up for sale in spring 2014.

Barclays Center and related development on surrounding land have stirred controversy among Prospect Heights residents for years. But the arena, which opened in 2012, is a huge hit with attendees of concerts and sporting events hosted there.

It is now also the home of the New York Islanders hockey team.