newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Conflicting reports about a potential sale of the New Jersey Devils were cleared up yesterday by principal owner Jeff Vanderbeek.

Vanderbeek confirmed in a statement that team co-owner Michael Gilfillan, president of Brick City Hockey, is looking to sell his stake in the team.

Gilfillan, a minority partner in the franchise for more than a decade, has retained Baltimore investment bank Moag & Co. to explore the sale of his share. Brick City is controlled by Gilfillan and his father-in-law, philanthropist Raymond Chambers.

"My partner, Brick City, and I have different visions for the franchise," Vanderbeek said, according to Bloomberg.com. "While Brick City has a right, under our partnership agreement, to explore a sale and Moag & Co. has been retained to assist in these efforts, I anticipate maintaining a controlling interest."

According to two people with knowledge of the situation, Gilfillan and Chambers don't want to invest millions of dollars more into the franchise, which is building two high-end restaurants in the arena and contributing to the development of a nearby hotel.

According to NJ.com, the partnership paid $125 million for the Devils in 2004. Late last year, Forbes magazine estimated the team's value at $218 million, making it the 11th most valuable franchise in the National Hockey League.

CBS Sports reports Vanderbeek became a minority owner of the Devils in 2000, and he purchased the team and became its majority owner in 2004. He was a former Devils season ticket holder since the 1980s

Vanderbeek was one of the leading proponents behind the building of the Prudential Center in Newark, which opened as the Devils' home in 2007.