Ontario Teachers Pension Fund buys TD's Stake in MLSE

htpwn

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Melrose Munch

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Mar 18, 2007
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This may be a bad sign of things to come for those of us who don't want Rogers to purchase the team.

My understanding is that despite holding 66% of the shares, the OTPP didn't hold a majority at the Board of Directors. This will certainly give them that.
Larry Tannebaum should get some investors together.
 

Tinalera

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Larry Tannebaum should get some investors together.

Would this mean then that Tennebaum would no longer have the "final" say, that the pension board no longer needs his "okay" to make a sale ?(I also understood that TD having the shares made that set up possible-now that they've told to pension board, all bets are off IMO)

Mr Tannebaum cannot be happy with that-he probably offered to buy the TD's share in the past but was rebuffed-I would THINK this would quash any hope at all that he would have had at controlling the franchise)
 

Melrose Munch

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Would this mean then that Tennebaum would no longer have the "final" say, that the pension board no longer needs his "okay" to make a sale ?(I also understood that TD having the shares made that set up possible-now that they've told to pension board, all bets are off IMO)

Mr Tannebaum cannot be happy with that-he probably offered to buy the TD's share in the past but was rebuffed-I would THINK this would quash any hope at all that he would have had at controlling the franchise)
I think so. This team is going to rogers.
 

Tinalera

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So the Speculating I'm reading on a casual basis-80 percent, about 1.3-1.6 billion?

*checks wallet* I got, 20, no! 30 bucks!

Anyone want to "help" me? ;)


In all seriousness, the numbers when this is all said and done are going to be staggering, and I think too Rogers is probably going to buy the team if they can. Otherwise what sort of constortium would be interested (and I think JB is not getting within sniffing distance IMO)

Interesting they're setting up a "data room" for potential buyers to go through the books, I have never heard of that before-but I would it's a common thing among major transactions?
 

Thrillingbroom

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Jun 15, 2009
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Would this mean then that Tennebaum would no longer have the "final" say, that the pension board no longer needs his "okay" to make a sale ?(I also understood that TD having the shares made that set up possible-now that they've told to pension board, all bets are off IMO)

Mr Tannebaum cannot be happy with that-he probably offered to buy the TD's share in the past but was rebuffed-I would THINK this would quash any hope at all that he would have had at controlling the franchise)

No, he still has first right to match the offer. It didn't have anything to do with percentage of ownership but with the deal back in the 90s when he and Stavro formed MLSE. As someone pointed out on the Leafs board it may have something to do having control of the MLSE board. And the sale would be easier with less companies to deal with.
 

Tinalera

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No, he still has first right to match the offer. It didn't have anything to do with percentage of ownership but with the deal back in the 90s when he and Stavro formed MLSE. As someone pointed out on the Leafs board it may have something to do having control of the MLSE board. And the sale would be easier with less companies to deal with.

Thanks for clarifying! if it's about right to match offer, I'm guessing this brings up the "partners" as Tennebaum prolly doesn't have the $$$ to match a 1.6 billion dollars out of his wallet. ;)
 

seanlinden

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Apr 28, 2009
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Would this mean then that Tennebaum would no longer have the "final" say, that the pension board no longer needs his "okay" to make a sale ?(I also understood that TD having the shares made that set up possible-now that they've told to pension board, all bets are off IMO)

Mr Tannebaum cannot be happy with that-he probably offered to buy the TD's share in the past but was rebuffed-I would THINK this would quash any hope at all that he would have had at controlling the franchise)

The teachers didn't need Tanenbaum to do anything before, and nothing has changed now with the OTPP having 79.5%. Tanenbaum just so happened to be chairman of the board because the teachers let him hold that position.

Before this deal, both Tanenbaum / TD had first right of refusal on any shares in the proportion of which they already held it. Basically what that means is that if the Teachers sold their 66% stake, Tanenbaum had the right to purchase 20.5/34 of that while TD had the right to purchase 13.5/34 of that. Now, Tanenbaum has first right of refusal on 100% of the shares.

As for the suggestion that they're trying to squeze tanenbaum out, this really isn't the case... Tannebaum has the right to purchase 20.5/86.5 of TD's Shares, and hasn't decided whether or not to do so. Infact, the article mentions the OTPP statement which says that they could end up with between 76.35% and 79.53% depending on what Tanenbaum does. That difference of 3.18% is basically equivalent (20.5/86.5) * 13.5 = 3.19%. Of course that is (Tannenbaum's Share / OTPP+Tanenbaum) * TD Shares.

The interesting thing -- is that if Tanenbaum wants to bring in external investors to buy the teachers shares, he now has complete freedom to do so.
 
Last edited:

htpwn

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More details starting to come out...

Sources say Mr. Tanenbaum, who had arranged a deal to purchase TD’s shares a few years ago, did not know that Teachers was negotiating to buy out TD.

Mr. Leech did not rule out the possibility that Teachers, which has $107-billion assets under management, will attempt to buy out Mr. Tanenbaum, saying “at the present time we’ve got no plans to do that.”

“You wouldn’t go to all that trouble [of buying out TD] unless you were pretty sure you had your main transaction lined up,” said a source who asked not to be named. “Why put more money into a business that’s fully valued?”

Sources close to events say Mr. Tanenbaum was not able to secure the funding months ago when Teachers first broached the idea of selling its majority stake.

http://business.financialpost.com/2011/05/10/teachers-looking-to-buy-tds-stake-in-mlse/
 

Ryan34222

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Mar 19, 2010
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Hamilton
So the Speculating I'm reading on a casual basis-80 percent, about 1.3-1.6 billion?

*checks wallet* I got, 20, no! 30 bucks!

Anyone want to "help" me? ;)


In all seriousness, the numbers when this is all said and done are going to be staggering, and I think too Rogers is probably going to buy the team if they can. Otherwise what sort of constortium would be interested (and I think JB is not getting within sniffing distance IMO)

Interesting they're setting up a "data room" for potential buyers to go through the books, I have never heard of that before-but I would it's a common thing among major transactions?
maybe not Saint Jimmy himself but RIM could.. great for Blackberry advertisements
 

danishh

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Dec 9, 2006
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Can MLSE (owned by rogers/tanenbaum) not own an NFL team, or does it have to be a non-corporate entity?


anyways, i call some rich investment group from abu dhabi or dubai or something like that. Would be amusing to see rogers' reaction to that.
 

Epsilon

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Oct 26, 2002
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For all the crap that's been flung over the years at Peddie, Tanenbaum, and OTPP by myopic sports fans, they've achieved an incredible business success over the last decade+ by taking a pro sports team and turning it into an absurdly valuable real estate and entertainment package.
 

uncleben

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Dec 4, 2008
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can some one who understand business explain why they wanted to sell not so long ago, now theyre trying to buy more? i just dont understand the reason for a flip like that.
 

danishh

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Dec 9, 2006
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can some one who understand business explain why they wanted to sell not so long ago, now theyre trying to buy more? i just dont understand the reason for a flip like that.

the way the ownership is structured, OTPP owned the majority of the company but not the majority of the board. Buying out TD gives them more control over the sale of MLSE, potentially allowing them to bypass tanenbaum's hopes to put together an ownership group.

I believe tanenbaum will still hold the right to match any offer, but that extra 20% will make it even harder for him to come up with the cash, and he was already having trouble building a group for just OTPP's shares.
 

uncleben

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Dec 4, 2008
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the way the ownership is structured, OTPP owned the majority of the company but not the majority of the board. Buying out TD gives them more control over the sale of MLSE, potentially allowing them to bypass tanenbaum's hopes to put together an ownership group.

I believe tanenbaum will still hold the right to match any offer, but that extra 20% will make it even harder for him to come up with the cash, and he was already having trouble building a group for just OTPP's shares.

Perfect, thanks :)
 

danishh

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Dec 9, 2006
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I should add that this also makes the deal smoother for the buyer. I believe the expectation was always that TD would sell their shares to the new majority owner once OTPP completed the transaction, but buying it all at once and only having to negotiate with OTPP makes things easier on the buyer.
 

Drake1588

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Jul 2, 2002
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It sure makes it look more and more like Rogers. Control of content is everything for a media company in its position. There isn't any better content to control in that market, for a broadcaster, than the Maple Leafs.
 

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