Full Throttle

George Gillett entered NASCAR with the purchase of a controlling interest in Evernham Motorsports. In January 2009, a merger was completed with Petty Enterprises. As a result, GEM was renamed Richard Petty Motorsports.

However, whether due to the economic downturn or some other unknown reason Gillett is cutting his losses and may be on the verge of selling one of his marquee holdings - the Montreal Canadians NHL franchise.

The Montreal Canadians could be for sale as part of a plan by owner George Gillett to sort out his varied holdings. “The Gillett family has retained the services of financial advisers to assess various strategic alternatives to optimize the value of its corporate assets,” team president Pierre Boivin said yesterday in a statement.

“In Canada, the family has retained the services of BMO Capital Markets and the process is under way.” Montreal La Presse reported that BMO will study all financial avenues, including selling the club, financial restructuring, or bringing in new investors. Gillett owns 80 percent of the team and the Bell Centre where the team plays.

UPDATE: Gillett slammed media reports that he was preparing to dismantle his sporting empire which also includes the NASCAR team Richard Petty Motorsports.

“What was told to the media was that we are doing some estate planning and looking at various assets to see whether we should refinance them, sell them, buy them, nothing urgent, we were just starting the process,” Gillett told reporters at the SportAccord convention.

“We had engaged six investment advisors around the world and it got reported as four and that we were selling assets as opposed to estate planning.

“Even when you think you’re doing it right it gets distorted. There is no story yet, we’ll find out what it is when we get the reports.