04/23/2008

Globe and Mail

by: Brian Milner

Hollywood producer Oren Koules and his investors have finally lined up the financing necessary to acquire the Tampa Bay Lightning, people familiar with the transaction say...

After two major lenders walked away from the deal in the midst of a global credit crisis, Lighting owner Palace Sports and Entertainment and its New York financial adviser, Galatioto Sports Partners, have stepped into the breach

..."To move the process along and make it as efficient as it can be and gain control of the process, [Galatioto Sports Partners] and Palace Sports stepped in and said, 'We'll finance it until the credit markets get corrected,'" Lightning president Ron Campbell told the St. Petersburg Times.

...Koules' group, OK Hockey, had originally lined up French bank Societe Generale as its main lender. But after a shocking trading scandal brought SocGen to its knees, the bank shut down its aggressive U.S. sports lending business...

Then last month, CIT Group, a 100-year-old U.S. commercial lender, also withdrew...