(Bloomberg) -- Rogers Communications Inc. is buying BCE Inc.’s stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. for C$4.7 billion ($3.5 billion), giving the telecommunications firm control of Canada’s most valuable sports company.

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Financing for the deal will include private investors and it won’t affect its debt leverage, Rogers said in a statement — though it’s not yet clear where it will get the money. BCE, parent of Bell Canada, plans to use the proceeds to reduce its debt.

The transaction, which values the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club and Toronto Raptors basketball franchise at roughly $9.3 billion, is expected to close in mid-2025, pending league and regulatory approvals.

Wednesday’s deal signals an end to what was always an unlikely partnership between the two bitter rivals, who compete for wireless, television and internet customers and own dueling sports networks, BCE’s TSN and Rogers’ Sportsnet.

Rogers and BCE joined forces to buy out Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s majority stake in MLSE in a C$1.32 billion deal announced in 2011. Each company holds 37.5% and they share the teams’ local broadcasting rights.

Canadian businessman Larry Tanenbaum holds a minority stake in the sports company, and the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System has a small, indirect stake through one of Tanenbaum’s companies.

Bell “reached out and asked us whether we’d be interested in purchasing their ownership interests and we were very interested — this is right on strategy for us,” Rogers Chief Executive Officer Tony Staffieri said in an interview, adding that it gives his company the chance to “consolidate control of the asset.”

While the deal came together relatively quickly, he said, “you can’t always pick the timing, but we seized the opportunity when it showed up.”

On the question of paying for the stake without increasing its debt leverage, Staffieri said: “There are a few financing options available to us that aren’t structured as debt, but we also intend to bring in private investors into the transaction.”

BCE rose as much as 4.6%, while shares of Rogers went in the opposite direction and were down 2.5% to C$54.11 as of 3:41 p.m. Toronto time.

Analysts noted that Rogers hasn’t said where it intends to find outside capital and might look to reduce its total ownership stake through an initial public offering. At least two analysts — Jerome Dubreuil of Desjardins Securities and Vince Valentini of TD Cowen — painted scenarios in which Rogers would eventually sell down its MLSE interest to just above 50%.