Bond Ballers

Morocco-born vulture investor Marc Lasry and his sister Sonia Gardner have made their investors billions buying debt and other troubled interest-bearing obligations, such as tax liens. Now they’ve set their sights on sports, looking for value in unexpected places like Major League Pickleball and the NBA’s Africa league.

Twenty Formula 1 engines rev in synchrony as they ready for a practice run through the streets of downtown Singapore for September’s annual Grand Prix at Marina Bay Street Circuit. Marc Lasry, billionaire co-founder and

CEO of $12.5 billion private equity firm Avenue Capital Group, is taking a break from a party upstairs at the Paddock Club to visit the garage of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team.

“We’ve been looking at some F1 teams to invest in, [so] I wanted to come out here to meet and talk to a number of people,” Lasry says, straining to be heard above the squeal of pneumatic wheel guns, as F1 star Lewis Hamilton climbs into his car. Lasry won’t say which team he’s eyeing, but given his deep-discount approach to investing, it’s not likely to be a podium favorite like Mercedes.

In April, Lasry sold his 25% interest in the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks at a $3.5 billion valuation — a sixfold profit after nine seasons, including the Bucks’ first NBA championship in 50 years in 2021. The transaction boosted Lasry’s net worth to $2.1 billion, an impressive 17% jump from a year ago, but still $800 million short of this year’s cutoff for inclusion on The Forbes 400. When he bought the franchise in 2014 with another private equity billionaire, Wes Edens (net worth $3.9 billion), the Bucks were wrapping up a season as the NBA’s worst team.