Dragons' Den investors join starstudded Ottawa Senators bid

The group trying to lever‐ age star power for its bid to own the Ottawa Senators continues to add more known names to its list.

Los Angeles-based produc‐ er Neko Sparks is behind one of four groups that had sub‐ mitted final bids for the team by the May 15 deadline, ac‐ cording to Sportsnet and Postmedia.

The others are reportedly former Pittsburgh Penguins minority owners Jeffrey and Michael Kimel, Montreal Canadiens minority owner Michael Andlauer and Toron‐ to-area billionaire Steve Apos‐ tolopoulos.

Unlike the others, Sparks and his team haven't been shy about publicly sharing celebrity partners this month: first Snoop Dogg, then former world record sprinter Dono‐ van Bailey.

Comedian Russell Peters said on Instagram Saturday he's getting involved, which was confirmed in a Monday news release that also an‐ nounced four of the six cur‐ rent investors that make up the Dragons' Den panel.

Robert Herjavec, Arlene Dickinson, Wes Hall, and Man‐ jit Minhas are partnering with the bid, according to the news release, along with Manjit's brother and business partner Ravinder Minhas.

Sparks and Ottawa ac‐ counting firm TAAG said the firm has created a special pur‐ pose vehicle or SPV for in‐ vestors to get involved. Ac‐ cording to Reuters, SPVs are a legal entity that's separate from the group that sets them up.

The Sparks group also met with Kitigan Zibi Anish‐ inābeg First Nation Chief Dy‐ lan Whiteduck, according to the chief, who said last week he was expecting to meet with at least one other bid‐ ding team.

The Weeknd has also joined another bid, according to Postmedia.

There's no public timeline for the Senators sale to be fi‐ nalized and announced. For‐ mer owner Eugene Melnyk, who died last year, bought the team and its arena for $130 million US in 2003.