(All figures in U.S. dollars)
OTTAWA, April 18 - American George Gillett is
seeking a partner willing to invest $400 million into a sporting
empire that includes Liverpool soccer club and the Montreal
Canadiens NHL team, a newspaper said on Saturday.
The French-language La Presse, citing sources involved with
the proposed sale of the Canadiens, said such an investment
would enable the financially-pressed businessman to hold on to
the teams.
La Presse said Gillett had proposed to several business
executives that they invest $400 million and become a junior
partner, but had generated little interest so far.
Gillett said last month that he had hired a team of advisors
to look at his assets and denied media reports he wanted to sell
some of them.
"My family and I regard this possibility as the last resort.
We are a lot more interested in some kind of (business)
association than in the sale of the Montreal Canadiens or one of
our other enterprises," Gillett told the newspaper on Friday.
Gillett owns 80.1 percent of the Canadiens and 50 percent of
five-times European champions Liverpool.
Canadian media last week said would-be buyers were being
asked to submit formal offers for the Canadiens and several
groups had signed confidentiality agreements with the Bank of
Montreal's
Gillett declined to comment on the reports, saying the
banking arm had yet to complete its work.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren, editing by Alan Baldwin; To
query or comment on this story email
sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)