Forest City closes sale of equity interest in Barclays Center, Brooklyn Nets

Cleveland -- Forest City Realty Trust announced that its subsidiary, Nets Sports and Entertainment has completed the previously announced sale of its equity interests in both the Barclays Center arena and the Brooklyn Nets basketball team to Onexim Sports and Entertainment Holding USA. As previously disclosed, the transaction values the team at approximately $875 million and the arena at $825 million, inclusive of debt for each asset. The transaction was approved in December by the Board of Governors of the NBA, and achieves the NBA's objective of having ownership and control of both assets under one owner.



"We are pleased to complete this important transaction, which aligns with our strategic focus on core retail, office and apartment assets in strong urban markets, and on using proceeds from non-core asset sales to further improve our balance sheet and selectively invest in entitled development opportunities in our core markets to drive future growth," said David J. LaRue, Forest City president and CEO.



The purchase price for NS&E's non-controlling 20% equity interest in the team was $125.1 million. For the arena, the purchase price for NS&E's 55% equity interest was $162.6 million, after adjusting for the settlement of certain outstanding capital obligations between NS&E and Onexim.