Rogers Buys $3.5 Billion Maple Leaf Sports Stake, Sportico Says

Rogers Communications Inc. is buying BCE Inc.’s 37.5% stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. for C$4.7 billion ($3.5 billion), Sportico reported without saying where it got the information.

The deal will give Toronto-based Rogers a majority stake in the Canadian sports company whose most valuable assets include the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club and the Toronto Raptors, Canada’s only National Basketball Association team. Prior to this deal, Rogers and BCE, parent of Bell Canada, evenly divided a 75% stake, while Canadian businessman Larry Tanenbaum and the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System own the remainder.

The Raptors, which ...