Furniture dealer Hilton Koch bought the Houston Comets, making the four-time WNBA champions the league's fifth independently owned franchise in the women's basketball league.

The WNBA Board of Governors approved the sale Wednesday.

The Comets were previously owned by Leslie Alexander, who also owns the NBA's Houston Rockets. Alexander sold the WNBA franchise so he could focus solely on the Rockets, said Rockets CEO Tad Brown.

Brown would not disclose how much Koch paid for the franchise. In December, the Los Angeles Sparks were sold for $10 million (euro7.7 million).