Meet the billionaire who bought the Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators’ search for a new owner has finally come to an end.

On Tuesday, the senators issued a statement A group led by logistics billionaire Michael Andlauer announced it had agreed to buy 90% of the club. The daughters of the previous owner, Canadian businessman Eugene Melnyk, who died in 2022, will retain 10% of their father’s estate. The deal is subject to league approval. Multiple reports suggest the sale price will be close to $1 billion.

Reportedly born in France and raised in Montreal, Andlauer has run Canadian logistics companies focused on healthcare for more than three decades. He founded Andlauer Transportation Services in 1991 and Associated Logistics Solutions in 1994. (The two later changed their names.) About 25 years later, he created the Andlauer Healthcare Group as a subsidiary of his management company, merging several healthcare supply chain businesses under one. Umbrella. It went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2019 and currently has a market capitalization of over $1.4 billion. Andlauer holds a 52% stake worth about $750 million.

The proceeds from Andlauer’s 2019 IPO will come from the sale of shares from the public listing and his other assets — which reportedly include a 10% to 20% stake in the Montreal Canadiens.Forbes Andlauer’s net worth is estimated to exceed $1 billion. Andlauer, who founded Toronto-based private equity firm Bulldog Capital Partners, did not respond to a request for comment.

Even though it was more than eight times the $92 million Melnyk paid in 2003 to buy the team, the Senators still One of the most underrated franchises in the leagueAccording to ForbesLatest estimates rank 24th and most recently worth $800 million. However, a sale price of $1 billion would set a new record for the NHL, surpassing the $900 million sale of the Pittsburgh Penguins to Fenway Sports Group in 2021. Andlauer’s board is believed to include local investors and others. A Toronto native and four-time Grammy Award winner Abel „The Weeknd” Desfay.

Andlauer’s love of hockey predated his pursuit of the Senators by two decades. He took over as majority owner of the American Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs in 2004, after initially investing, and oversaw the club’s 2007 Calder Cup victory. In 2009, Antloir invested in the Montreal Canadiens as part of a group led by Jeff Molson, a seventh-generation descendant of Molson Brewery founder John Molson. Andlauer, who served as the team’s alternate governor, sold the Bulldogs to the Canadiens in 2015. That same year he bought the amateur Belleville Bulls and relocated them to Hamilton, where they won the Ontario Hockey League championship in 2018 and 2022.

Upon completion of the contract, he must divest his stake in the Canadiens in accordance with league ownership regulations. The NHL did not respond to a request for comment.

Antlawer will have his work cut out for the senator in chaos through the long process of building a new arena. Since returning to the league in 1992, the team has failed to hoist the Stanley Cup. During its original run, Ottawa won 11 championships from 1903 to 1934, before a 58-year absence from the league.