Billionaire Marc Lasry’s Investment Playbook

Morocco-born vulture investor Marc Lasry and his sister Sonia Gardner have made 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.

_{By Maneet Ahuja, Forbes Staff and Hank Tucker, Forbes Staff}

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 cofounder 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.