Editor’s Note: Rogers Communications Inc., which owns Sportsnet, also has a 37.5 per cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
An Ontario pension plan is acquiring a five-per-cent indirect stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment in a deal with MLSE chair Larry Tanenbaum.
Tanenbaum announced Monday he is selling a 20-per-cent stake in his company, Kilmer Sports Inc., to OMERS for US$400 million.
OMERS, founded in 1962, is one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension plans.
“As an owner of MLSE, I’ve always seen myself as a steward of a public trust, working in service to the fans and the public to build Canada’s most iconic sports teams and win championships,” Tanenbaum said in a statement. “Now with this investment by OMERS, I’m thrilled to be sharing this public trust with over 600,000 hard-working Ontarians. Today is a good day for the future of MLSE.”
Kilmer Sports owns 25 per cent of MLSE. Rogers Communications and Bell control the other 75 per cent.
The statement says OMERS will be a financial investor and will not participate in operational decisions of MLSE or any of its teams.
MLSE owns the Maple Leafs, Raptors, Argonauts, Toronto FC and several developmental teams.
