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Teachers 'exploring' majority sale of MLSE?

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  • Teachers 'exploring' majority sale of MLSE?

    Toronto sports fans rejoice!

    http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=357807

    It appears the Ontario Teachers' Pension Fund is looking to divest their shares in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

    According to La Presse newspaper in Montreal, the Teachers' Pension Fund has hired investment bank Morgan Stanley to attempt to find a buyer for the 66% majority share of the company they own. The report states that the price tag for the sale is somewhere in the neighbourhood of $1.3 billion.

    MLSE owns not only the Maple Leafs but also the Toronto Raptors of the NBA, Major League Soccer's Toronto FC as well as the Air Canada Centre, BMO Field and Ricoh Coliseum.

  • #2
    Teachers 'exploring' majority sale of MLSE?

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...le-report.html

    Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns among other properties the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, the NBA's Toronto Raptors and Toronto FC of MLS, could be up for sale.

    The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) said in a statement Saturday that it "will explore the possibility of selling its 66 per cent majority share of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment."

    Earlier Saturday, Montreal's La Presse reported that the OTPP have hired investment bank Morgan Stanley to find investors interested in buying their shares.

    La Presse, citing an unnamed source, says the asking price is $1.3 billion for the OTPP's shares.

    If completed, the sale would be the largest in Canadian sports history.

    When contacted Saturday by CBC Hockey Night in Canada's Scott Morrison, MLSE president and CEO Richard Peddie offered no comment.

    In December, reports surfaced that telecommunications giant Rogers Communications was making overtures to buy the OTPP's shares for $1.3 billion.

    Along with the Leafs, Raptors and Toronto FC, MLSE also owns the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, television networks Leafs TV and Raptors TV, the Air Canada Centre, and Ricoh Coliseum.

    As well as being a telephone, internet, and cable giant, Rogers already owns Canadian sports channel Sportsnet, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Rogers Centre.

    Real estate magnate Larry Tanenbaum, who owns 20.5 per cent of MLSE, and TD Capital, which owns 13.5 per cent, will each have first refusal on any proposed sale of the OTPP's shares.

    The OTPP now has the go-ahead from the NHL to open the franchise's books to potential buyers.

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    • #3
      Ted Rogers is dancing in his grave.

      If Rogers gets their hands on 66% of MLSE... well I'm not sure what I would think about it actually. They seem to be just as hands-off with the Jays, as OTP and further extent MLSE have been with the Raptors and Leafs. Wouldn't make much of a difference really.

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      • #4

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        • #5
          NOOOOOO! They better not sell to Rogers. I don't want to get SN/SN1 and/or hear about lack of money.
          Last edited by RaptorsFan4Life; Sun Mar 13, 2011, 02:02 PM.

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          • #6
            There are probably other buyers out there besides Rodgers.

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            • #7
              Apollo wrote: View Post
              There are probably other buyers out there besides Rodgers.
              Aaron Rodgers a potential buyer of MLSE? Man that Superbowl must've really paid out.

              Seriously though, as long as MLSE is owned by INVESTORS, then there will never be priority to produce a winning club, but rather a money making club. Investors don't give a shit whether your product is causing cancer as long as it's lining their pockets with big-time money.

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              • #8
                nubreed000 wrote: View Post
                Aaron Rodgers a potential buyer of MLSE? Man that Superbowl must've really paid out.

                Seriously though, as long as MLSE is owned by INVESTORS, then there will never be priority to produce a winning club, but rather a money making club. Investors don't give a shit whether your product is causing cancer as long as it's lining their pockets with big-time money.
                Unfortunately, the investors have to make this team a winning team if they want to continually line their pockets looking at the abysmal attendance record this year. Toronto Raptor fans are not Maple Leafs fans. No one loves losers. My 2 cents.

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                • #9
                  smushmush wrote: View Post
                  Unfortunately, the investors have to make this team a winning team if they want to continually line their pockets looking at the abysmal attendance record this year. Toronto Raptor fans are not Maple Leafs fans. No one loves losers. My 2 cents.
                  I am not promoting a losing franchise, however, that statement is true in theory but not in practice. Look at the Clippers. Sterling makes money year in and year out and they are one of the worst franchises in pro sports over the last 25 years. Orlando is a team that despite its winning ways and high payroll does not make money.

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                  • #10
                    Here is a chance for Balsillie to own a NHL club and get a NBA franchise as a "throw in"!!

                    Seriously, I actually prefer a deep pocketed fan-owner of the team/s like a Cuban. I am sure RIM could probably leverage the content coming out of the buyout.

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                    • #11
                      Bendit wrote: View Post
                      Here is a chance for Balsillie to own a NHL club and get a NBA franchise as a "throw in"!!

                      Seriously, I actually prefer a deep pocketed fan-owner of the team/s like a Cuban. I am sure RIM could probably leverage the content coming out of the buyout.
                      Could you imagine? I would be ecstatic. After his failed attempts to move to Hamilton, this reminds me of how Vince McMahon answered the question of how did he defeat Ted Turner in the wrestling wars of the mid-late '90's. His answer: "To beat a billionaire you have to become a billionaire." For Balsillie to beat the Leafs, he had to buy the Leafs.

                      I'm sure MLSE are going to be looking for a billion dollars or more (that is $1,000,000,000 plus - a lot of zero's). The difference between Balsillie trying to bring PHX to Hamilton is PHX was and is bleeding in the red whereas MLSE is a little gold mine.

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                      • #12
                        Yes, I'd be quite surprised if he is not in the running. A problem I'd foresee is the NHL nixes his ownership of the Leafs because of the recent past. But I think they can kissandmakeup as businessmen....especially if he comes in as a majority owner and Tannenbaum still retains some ownership.

                        I am concerned about the timing of all this visavis BC's contract extension. This is a crucial time with the draft and FAs or trades etc. Getting someone new to get up and running is not an easy thing to do by June. They should just extend him for a year and then let the new ownership decide...but he'd have to go along with that.

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                        • #13
                          http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...siness+News%29

                          Rogers takes pass on Maple Leafs stake

                          High-ranking sources at Rogers say the company has “very little” interest in putting in a bid, even though there were reports late last year that Rogers was in talks to buy MLSE. The sources said Rogers walked away from any notion of buying the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors and other MLSE assets last spring and never revisited the idea.
                          ---
                          But for Rogers, which spoke briefly about purchasing MLSE at around the time of the NHL playoffs last year, control over the company proved a stumbling block. Talks never got off the ground because the telecom giant expressed curiosity about a deal only if it could control all of the broadcast rights for the sports properties, and could control the company outright. Rogers executives expect to be invited to look at MLSE’s books when the formal auction process begins, but the company does not intend to change its mind.
                          Let's hope they don't change their mind. I like the idea of Balsillie taking over, but according to the article it would cost him around $1.5 billion (or more, seeing as this will end up being a bidding war) for the controlling stake.

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                          • #14
                            nubreed000 wrote: View Post
                            http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...siness+News%29



                            Let's hope they don't change their mind. I like the idea of Balsillie taking over, but according to the article it would cost him around $1.5 billion (or more, seeing as this will end up being a bidding war) for the controlling stake.
                            It would be interesting to see how much money he could come up with. PHX would have cost him a couple of hundred million, plus taking their debt, relocation costs, refurbishing Copps Coliseum, and a host of other expenses and that does not guarantee a profitable franchise. MLSE would no doubt cost more, a hell of a lot more, but he is guaranteed a profit.

                            However, there is a strong possibility he has burned his bridges in the NHL which would be silly on the league's part, in my opinion.

                            Billionaire Jim Balsillie, co-chief executive officer of Research in Motion, has chased NHL franchises in recent years but a source knowledgeable about league ownership issues said he would be shocked if the businessman would have any interest in the Maple Leafs now.

                            “As far as buying the entire company or getting control (through the pension plan’s stake) is concerned, the chances are better of the sun setting in the east,” said the source.

                            The NHL has also made it clear it would not approve of Balsillie regardless of how much he would offer for a franchise after rejecting him as a qualified owner during the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy proceedings last year.

                            Balsillie was also close to buying the Pittsburgh Penguins a few years ago. He also made separate offers to buy the Coyotes and Nashville Predators with the intent of eventually moving one of them to Hamilton.
                            http://www.thestar.com/business/comp...ht-to-buy-mlse
                            The article is from December.

                            Taneubaum has right of first purchase as well.

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                            • #15
                              Did Balsillie sleep with every NHL owners wife or something? lol

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