Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) CEO Richard
Peddie dismissed a weekend report that the company is in
play and said the "position" of MLSE is still "we're not for
sale -- nor are any of our assets or shares," according to
Jason Tchir of the TORONTO SUN. Peddie's remarks "counters
speculation" in the Toronto Globe & Mail that a partnership
between the Thomson family, which owns the Globe & Mail, and
BCE Inc., which owns Bell Canada and CTV, "is courting" MLSE
properties, which include the Maple Leafs, Raptors and Air
Canada Centre (TORONTO SUN, 9/10). The GLOBE & MAIL's Eric
Reguly cited sources as saying that an announcement of a
Thomson-BCE partnership "would probably be made in Toronto
late next week." Sources "have confirmed the Thomsons have
approached the owners" of MLSE with the "intention of
submitting a formal offer." Of the four MLSE shareholders,
the Thomsons "are closest to" Steve Stavro, who owns "about"
23% of MLSE, but Stavro has said that MLSE "is not for
sale." The value of MLSE, including real estate, is
"estimated at about" C$1B (GLOBE & MAIL, 9/9).
