ATLANTA, Georgia - Los Angeles businessman Alex Meruelo has reached an agreement to buy a majority stake in the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Sunday.

In an exclusive interview with the newspaper this weekend, Meruelo said that if the deal is approved he would be proud to become the first Hispanic owner in the NBA.

"It is important to me," Meruelo, whose parents arrived in the United States from Cuba in 1961, told the Journal-Constitution.