Steven Rales purchases 15% of Indiana Pacers from Herbert Simon, now owns 20% of the team pending NBA approval

Simon bought the Pacers in 1983

On Thursday evening, Indiana Pacers chairman and owner Herbert Simon shared that he has agreed to a deal with Steven Rales that will make Rales a 20% minority owner of the Pacers.

Sportico reported that such an agreement existed earlier in the day. According to Sportico, Rales already owned 5% of the franchise, so his new investment brings his ownership percentage up to 20% in total.

Sportico's report also details that the purchase is being made at a franchise valuation of $3.47 billion. 15% of that number is $520 million.

"My good friend, Steven Rales, who has strong Hoosier ties and is a graduate of DePauw University and co-founder of Danaher Corporation, which is the owner of Indiana-based life sciences company Beckman Coulter, expressed an interest in acquiring a minority investment in the franchise," Simon shared in a statement. "After considerable discussion, Steven is going to become a minority owner of 20% of the franchise pending league approval. Management of the franchise remains under Simon family control. The Simon family is as committed to Indiana today as we have been since we moved here from New York in the 1960's."

The Simon family has owned the Pacers since 1983, meaning they have helped grow the franchise for the last 40 years. Herbert's son, Stephen Simon, is on the board of directors of the Pacers Basketball Corporation and has a role with a franchise.

According to Sportico, the agreement between Simon and Rales "includes a possible path to control for Rales should the Simon family ever choose to sell." If the Pacers are ever for sale, Rales would have an advantage over other bidders.

Rales' net worth, per Forbes, is $7.5 billion. His Indiana connections are presumably appealing to Simon, who founded the Indianapolis-headquartered Simon Property Group more than 30 years ago. Rales went to Depauw University, which is in Greencastle, Indiana.

Herbert Simon is now 89 years old. When Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle signed his contract extension with the franchise in late October, he thanked Rales, as well as the Simons, for their commitment to the Pacers.

Indiana is 9-8 this season and sits in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

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