Edmonton Investors Group Limited Partnership
Encyclopedia
The Edmonton Investors Group Limited Partnership was the limited partnership
Limited partnership
A limited partnership is a form of partnership similar to a general partnership, except that in addition to one or more general partners , there are one or more limited partners . It is a partnership in which only one partner is required to be a general partner.The GPs are, in all major respects,...

 that owned the Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....

 of the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

, and is currently an owner of the Edmonton Oil Kings
Edmonton Oil Kings
This article refers to the original Oil Kings franchises that existed until 1978. For the current team that began play in 2007, see Edmonton Oil Kings...

 of the Western Hockey League
Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...

.. With more than thirty individual shareholders, EIGLP was the largest ownership group in the NHL. Among the four North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n major sports leagues, only the Green Bay Packers have a larger ownership group.

Pre Edmonton Investors Group

In the mid-1990s, Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....

 owner Peter Pocklington
Peter Pocklington
Peter Hugh Pocklington is a Canadian entrepreneur.He made his initial fortune as the owner of one of the largest auto dealerships in Canada, and later took over a meat packing company involved in a high-profile labour strike....

 was in a precarious financial situation. Pocklington's main creditor, the Alberta Treasury Branches, were demanding repayment of millions of dollars worth of loans that ATB had made to Pocklington in the 1980s and early 1990s. The once-popular Pocklington had a strained relationship with Edmontonians due in part to his decision to trade Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...

 as well as his other business and political dealings. As a result, attendance at Northlands Coliseum
Rexall Place
Rexall Place is an indoor arena in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada situated on the north side of Northlands. It is currently the home to the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League, the Edmonton Rush of the National Lacrosse League and the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL...

 had declined - partly due to the team's declining on-ice fortunes but also due to personal animosity towards the owner.

This animosity hindered a 1996 season ticket
Season ticket
A season ticket is a ticket that grants privileges over a defined period of time.-Sport:In sport, a season ticket grants the holder access to all regular-season home games for one season without additional charges. The ticket usually offers a discounted price over purchasing a ticket for each of...

 drive that was needed to keep the team in Edmonton. It was largely due to the perseverance of future EIG partner Cal Nichols
Cal Nichols
Cal Nichols spearheaded the group which would later become the Edmonton Investors Group which owned the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers.-Biography:...

, that the Friends of the Oilers ticket drive ultimately expanded the season ticket base from a dismal 6,200 to over 13,400, enough to secure the team's future for the short term. However, it was increasingly obvious that Pocklington would not be around for the long term. In early 1997, Pocklington announced his intention to sell up to 45% of the team on the stock market
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...

. Pressure from ATB forced him to abandon this plan and put the team up for sale.

When the Oilers were put up for sale, many doubted whether a local ownership could be found and believed the proud franchise would be re-located to an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 city as had happened with the teams in Quebec City
Quebec Nordiques
The Quebec Nordiques were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association and the National Hockey League...

 in 1995 and Winnipeg in 1996. In 1997 the population of the Edmonton metropolitan area
Edmonton Capital Region
The Edmonton Capital Region , also commonly referred to as the Alberta Capital Region, Greater Edmonton or Metro Edmonton, is a conglomeration of municipalities centred around Edmonton – Alberta's provincial capital....

 was still under one million, a figure viewed by many fans to be the minimum base a major sports team needs to be financially viable. With the only other former World Hockey Association
World Hockey Association
The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...

 team in Hartford
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...

 re-locating in 1997, many analysts predicted that the "domino effect
Domino effect
The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear sequence. The term is best known as a mechanical effect, and is used as an analogy to a falling row of dominoes...

" would be completed in 1998 with the Oilers' move.

However, the terms of Pocklington's lease
Lease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...

 at what was then known as the Edmonton Coliseum prevented him from unilaterally moving the team or selling it to someone who intended to move it. The lease stipulated that an ownership group willing to keep the team in Edmonton would have six weeks from the time any such intention was declared to purchase the team for US$70 million. In addition, the ATB is a crown corporation owned by the Alberta government, though they treated the matter as non-political. While Alberta Premier Ralph Klein wanted to keep the Oilers in the capital, he was wary of a series of scandal
Scandal
A scandal is a widely publicized allegation or set of allegations that damages the reputation of an institution, individual or creed...

s involving favouritism at the ATB that had plagued his predecessor, Don Getty
Don Getty
Donald Ross Getty, OC, AOE is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 11th Premier of Alberta between 1985 and 1992. A member of the Progressive Conservatives, he served as Energy Minister and Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister in the government of Peter Lougheed before...

, in the 1980s. Klein was unwilling to make any move that might have been perceived by voters as government subsidization of a hockey club that paid multi-million dollar salaries. However, when Klein's hometown Calgary Flames
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is the third major-professional ice hockey team to represent the city of Calgary, following the...

 encountered financial difficulties in 2000, Klein immediately moved to assist them by creating a province-wide lottery.

Cal Nichols looks for investors

Nichols, a prominent businessman in his own right, immediately began putting together an ownership group. At the time, the Albertan economy—driven by the oilpatch -- was still recovering from price crashes in the 1980s and 1990s. Most Albertan investors preferred to commit their money to the re-emerging oilpatch, not a "small-market" hockey team. With no single Albertan magnate willing to commit $100 million to purchase the team, Nichols was forced to secure smaller investments from a larger number of investors. Lenders were willing to finance 40% of the purchase price, meaning Nichols needed to come up with about $60 million. Nichols had about $35 million in investments when an offer of US$85 million came from a buyer who wanted to move the team to Houston.

The Oilers' sale attracted interest in from several American cities, and as Nichols was securing local investors, an offer of US$85 million came from Les Alexander, a Houston-based businessman and an owner of the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

's Houston Rockets
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...

. Houston, which had recently had an application for an expansion team
Expansion team
An expansion team is a brand new team in a sports league. The term is most commonly used in reference to the North American major professional sports leagues, but is applied to sports leagues worldwide that use a closed franchise system of league membership. The term comes from the expansion of the...

 rejected by the league, was (and still is) the largest U.S. city without an NHL franchise. Alexander's original offer was to keep the team in Edmonton on the condition that the lease be terminated, attendance remained at acceptable levels, a local ownership group was eventually found and an expansion team be granted to Alexander in Houston. The Edmonton City Council
Edmonton City Council
The Edmonton City Council is the governing body of the City of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.Members represent wards throughout the city, and are known as councillors. Until 2010, Edmonton was divided in six wards with two councillors representing citizens in each ward...

 rejected these terms, believing they gave Alexander too much discretion to move the Oilers to Texas. The city believed the lease they negotiated with Pocklington was still the best chance they had of keeping the team in Edmonton in the long term. Alexander then offered the ATB (which had the team in receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...

 by then) US$85 million to purchase the team and move it to Houston, and submitted a US$5 million deposit
Deposit account
A deposit account is a current account, savings account, or other type of bank account, at a banking institution that allows money to be deposited and withdrawn by the account holder. These transactions are recorded on the bank's books, and the resulting balance is recorded as a liability for the...

. Nichols was given until March 13, 1998 to match the deposit and commit to purchasing the team for US$70 million, or the lease would be automatically terminated and the team would move.

Nichols was eventually able to assemble a group of 38 local investors. As the deadline neared, the Edmonton Investors Group (EIG) decided to commit to the purchase by matching Alexander's deposit with a down payment of US$5 million. The remainder of the US$70 million was paid to ATB 40 days later, and the NHL then approved the sale. Although major sporting leagues generally frown upon large ownership groups controlling franchises, the NHL decided to forego putting a team in Houston and allow the Oilers' sale to EIG to proceed as they did not want to lose any more Canadian teams - this would have put their lucrative Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 contracts in jeopardy.

The Edmonton Investors Group Ltd. is mainly a local ownership group, but includes a few business people from outside the city as well. The Oilers sale even drew interest from Calgary-born comic book creator Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane is a Canadian cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn....

, creator of the famous Spawn
Spawn (comics)
Spawn is a fictional comic book superhero who appears in a monthly comic book of the same name published by Image Comics. Created by writer/artist Todd McFarlane, Spawn first appeared in Spawn #1...

 character. McFarlane and artist Brent Ashe later designed the Oilers’ third jersey.

The Oilers' new owners have maintained good relations with fans. As a result, fans in Edmonton backed the league-imposed lockout of 2004–05 even though it wiped out an entire season, and came back after the lockout was settled. In the 2005–06 NHL season, the Oilers sold out every home game except one, where a computer glitch prevented the release of several hundred tickets.

Following a successful 2005–06 season which saw the Oilers fall one win short of winning the Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...

 and a boom in the Albertan economy, fan support reached its highest levels. A waiting list for season ticket buyers, unheard of during the days of Pocklington's ownership, was put in place after the owners were compelled to cap the number of season tickets sold. The team has also announced that a lottery
Lottery
A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...

 will be held for the right to purchase multi-game packages at Rexall Place.

Daryl Katz purchase offers and sale

In the 2006–07 NHL season the Oilers sold out every home game for the first time, despite missing the playoffs by a substantial margin. The ownership group then reportedly received a C$
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...

145 million offer from local billionaire
Billionaire
A billionaire, in countries that use the short scale number naming system, is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of a given currency, usually the United States dollar, Euro, or Pound sterling. Forbes magazine updates a complete list of U.S. dollar billionaires around the...

 Daryl Katz
Daryl Katz
Daryl Allan Katz is a Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and arts patron. With an estimated net worth of $US 2.0 billion , Katz was ranked by Forbes as the 16th wealthiest Canadian and 595th in the world...

 for the franchise, although Nichols subsequently said the team was not for sale. Daryl Katz
Daryl Katz
Daryl Allan Katz is a Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and arts patron. With an estimated net worth of $US 2.0 billion , Katz was ranked by Forbes as the 16th wealthiest Canadian and 595th in the world...

 upped the offer to $150 million, but was turned down again.

On August 7, Daryl Katz
Daryl Katz
Daryl Allan Katz is a Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and arts patron. With an estimated net worth of $US 2.0 billion , Katz was ranked by Forbes as the 16th wealthiest Canadian and 595th in the world...

 made a 3rd offer for the team of $185 million. Cal Nichols
Cal Nichols
Cal Nichols spearheaded the group which would later become the Edmonton Investors Group which owned the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers.-Biography:...

, spokesman for the EIG, said it amounted to a hostile takeover, and had caused divisions within the EIG.

On December 13, 2007 Daryl Katz
Daryl Katz
Daryl Allan Katz is a Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and arts patron. With an estimated net worth of $US 2.0 billion , Katz was ranked by Forbes as the 16th wealthiest Canadian and 595th in the world...

 submitted a 4th formal offer to the EIG to buy the franchise. The offer was $188 million to the EIG shareholders, plus another $100 million towards the building of a new arena in downtown Edmonton, as well as a new state of the art training facility located at the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...

. Cal Nichols
Cal Nichols
Cal Nichols spearheaded the group which would later become the Edmonton Investors Group which owned the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers.-Biography:...

 indicated that he would accept the offer for his share of the team, but that the EIG had to have the owners of 2/3 of the shares agree to the proposal. Cal Nichols
Cal Nichols
Cal Nichols spearheaded the group which would later become the Edmonton Investors Group which owned the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers.-Biography:...

 resigned as chairman of the board of directors for the EIG on December 14, 2007. Assuming the position of chairman of the board was Bill Butler, a minority shareholder & real estate developer. The EIG met to decide on the bid January 21, 2008.

Before the January 21st meeting there were rumours of a rival or plan B offer led by Gary Gregg, Bill Butler, Brian Nilsson and Jakob Ambrosius. These rumours were confirmed on January 23, as the rival faction would match the Katz offer either by soliciting new shareholders or taking a loan from Scotiabank using the hockey club as collateral.

As reported on the Team 1260 on January 24, 2007 as well as in the Edmonton Journal on January 25, 3 more directors of the Edmonton Investors Group stepped down. Ron Hodgson, Neal Allen & Brian Hryniuk have resigned adding speculation that they may have accepted the Katz offer as well. The updated price per share is $20,687 & sources close to Daryl Katz
Daryl Katz
Daryl Allan Katz is a Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and arts patron. With an estimated net worth of $US 2.0 billion , Katz was ranked by Forbes as the 16th wealthiest Canadian and 595th in the world...

 said he may be willing to close the deal only having 60% of the 7492 EIG shares.

On June 18, 2008 it was reported that the sale of the Edmonton Oilers was approved to Daryl Katz
Daryl Katz
Daryl Allan Katz is a Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and arts patron. With an estimated net worth of $US 2.0 billion , Katz was ranked by Forbes as the 16th wealthiest Canadian and 595th in the world...

 for a reported $200 million.

Shareholders

The ownership of the EIG was as follows (investors on the board of directors in BOLD):
Shareholder Residence Percentage Held
Dave Addie Lloydminster
Lloydminster
Lloydminster is a Canadian city which has the unusual geographic distinction of straddling the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan...

 
1.735%
Neal Allen Nisku
Jakob Ambrosius Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

Manuel Balsa Edmonton
Ted Barrett* Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

Edwin E. Bean Edmonton 8.00%
Gordon Buchanan Edmonton
Bill Butler Edmonton
Michael Dalton Kelowna
Kelowna
Kelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley, in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from a Okanagan language term for "grizzly bear"...

The Edmonton Journal  Edmonton
Ernie Elko Edmonton
Gary Gregg Edmonton 9.14%
Don Hamilton Edmonton
Ron Hodgson and Tom Mayson Edmonton 1.735%
Jim Hole Edmonton 9.14%
Brian Hryniuk Edmonton 1.735%
The Estate of Gerald Knoll (1932–2008) Nisku 1.67%
Chris Kuchar** Edmonton/Nisku
Larry M. Makelki Llyodminister
Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane is a Canadian cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn....

 
Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

Tim Melton Edmonton
Art Mihalcheon Edmonton
Cal Nichols Edmonton 8.00%
Lloydminster Consortium of Five:
Marcel and Roger Roberge,
Brian Nilsson,
Rusty Stalwick,
Keith Weaver
4 (Llyodminister)
Rusty Stalwick (Vermilion
Vermilion
Vermilion is an opaque orangish red pigment, similar to scarlet. As a naturally occurring mineral pigment, it is known as cinnabar, and was in use around the world before the Common Era began. Most naturally produced vermilion comes from cinnabar mined in China, and vermilion is nowadays commonly...

)
Al Owen Edmonton
J.R. Paine and Associates:
Dick Paine (1941–2002)
Edmonton
Harold and Cathy Roozen Edmonton
Bruce Saville Edmonton 9.14%
Dale Sheard Edmonton
Simon Sochatsky Edmonton
Barry Weaver*** Edmonton
Jim Woods Edmonton
Jim Zanello Edmonton


*Purchased shares of Dick Colf in 2002

**Inherited shares of Wally Kuchar (?-2004) in 2004

***Sold shares to EIG in 2003
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