(Bloomberg) — Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo had more banks than just letters to his name before Avenue Capital Group founder Mark Larry stepped down.
The two-time Most Valuable Player of the National Basketball Association had accounts open at 50 different banks, each with Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage limit. This shocked Larry, who co-owns the Milwaukee team.
“I spend a lot of time with them explaining where they should invest,” he said of his players at the Bloomberg Wealth Summit in New York on Thursday. “I’m like, Giannis, you can’t have accounts at 50 different banks. Let me tell you something, if JPMorgan goes down, your little dinky bank is going to go down too. I’ll explain Am what you should buy, should you buy US Treasury, you should buy this.
Antetokounmpo, 27, has been nicknamed the “Greek Freak” because he was born in Greece and shows strange athletic ability on the court. In early 2010 the country faced a sovereign-debt crisis that hit its banking system and left citizens worried about their cash.
In an extensive discussion with Carlyle Group co-founder and co-chairman David Rubenstein, Larry said that when he learned that his $550 million bid for the Bucks was $100 million more than the next highest offer, he Tried unsuccessfully to get it. lower. He’s not buying any more basketball franchises because they’re too expensive—but he did buy a pickleball team for less than $1 million.
His New York-based firm, which has assets of around $12 billion, has grown rapidly in the private lending business due to the crisis-ridden credit crunch in the market. He expects more companies to be in trouble in the next two to three years than in the past.
He said, ‘When people come to me, they have a problem. “They can’t borrow. Or they have assets but no cash flow. ,
Larry, 62, said he is also concerned about the US government’s ability to pay off its $30 trillion debt without reducing the value of the dollar.
“As rates go up, the debt we have, the cost of paying off that debt is so expensive, it’s going to be an issue,” he said.
Larry, who doesn’t normally wear socks but is elected on a rainy day in New York, not only gives financial advice to Bucks players, but also meets with them on the basketball court.
He said that he can win when they play “the horse”, but only if they play by “his rules”.
