MONTREAL - The Montreal Canadiens have been formally sold just days before their 100th birthday.
The NHL board of governors approved the club's sale to the Molson family on Tuesday.
Geoff Molson and his brothers Andrew and Justin are the lead investors in a group that reportedly paid US$575 million for the storied franchise.
"This is a proud moment for my family and our partners in the transaction," Geoff Molson, who takes over as chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "As owners, we will be right there with management and the team, building and battling toward our next Stanley Cup."
The Habs will celebrate their 100th anniversary Friday when they host the Boston Bruins.
George Gillett put the team up for sale in the spring.
The sale includes the team, the arena and Gillett Entertainment Group, a concert promotion company.
The Molson group has also bought the 19.9 per cent held by the Molson-Coors brewery, which will stay on as a sponsor.
The brothers are the fourth group of Molsons to own the club since the 1950s.
The ownership group includes Canada's largest communications company Bell and the Woodbridge Company, owned by the Thomson family which controls Thompson Reuters. Both have large stakes in CTVglobemedia (Bell 15 per cent and Woodbridge 40 per cent), whose television holdings include TSN and its French-language cousin RDS, which broadcast Canadiens games.
Others in the group are the Quebec Labour Federation solidarity fund; Michael Andlauer, a French-born, Montreal-raised businessman who owns the Canadiens top farm team the Hamilton Bulldogs; and Luc Bertrand, former head of the Montreal Stock Exchange. Two-thirds of the partnership is based in Quebec.
The National Bank Financial Group is a participant and is leading the banking syndicate, which includes the Desjardins Group and Scotiabank.
Bank president Louis Vachon said he's pleased the Quebec-based bank has joined "this flagship of sports history in Canada."
"This is both a business opportunity and a way for the group to confirm its commitment to the community," he said in a news release.
Quebec government investment agency Investissement Quebec also joined in the financing.
Details of the private company's transaction were not disclosed.
"I am very proud to have been able to recruit such solid and prestigious partners in this transaction and to have benefited from the support of major financial institutions and the Quebec government," added Molson.
When the Molson company put the team up for sale eight years ago, no local buyer was willing to risk what was deemed a steep price for a team that paid out most of its expenses in U.S. dollars but took in what were then weak Canadian dollars at the gate.
