BCE Inc. and its new partner Thomson Corp. say they are "very interested" in purchasing a sports team, with all signs pointing to Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. as the obvious buyout target.
"That's one of the next steps," said Kenneth Thomson, chairman of Thomson, speaking generally about the possible acquisition plans of the new company being formed with BCE.
"We are very interested," said Jean Monty, chairman and chief executive officer of BCE, in a separate interview. "There is an unbelievable appetite for more information about the details of games and sports players."
Neither BCE and Thomson nor Maple Leaf Sports -- owners of the venerable Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, the Toronto Raptors basketball franchise and the newly built Air Canada Centre -- were publicly saying that any deal was imminent. No deal was included as part of the BCE-Thomson agreement.
However, the corporate heads of the BCE-Thomson partnership spoke of the appeal of owning a team, since it would help bring sports content to newspaper, television and Internet media. Maple Leaf Sports would likely fetch around $1-billion, according to those familiar with the company.
Richard Peddie, president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports, has said repeatedly that the company is not for sale as buyout rumours continued to mount in recent weeks. He was unavailable for comment yesterday.
The ownership structure of Maple Leaf Sports also complicates any potential buyout. Steve Stavro has a 55-per-cent majority stake in MLG Holdings Ltd., which in turn owns 51 per cent of Maple Leaf Sports. Mr. Stavro is known as a Leafs loyalist and possible holdout in any buyout deal.
"Currently, there are no offers," said Lee Fullerton, a spokeswoman for the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund, which has a 49-per-cent share in Maple Leafs Sports.
But she added: "We do look at all offers on our investments, and everything has a fair price."
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