Soccer-Gillett seeking $400 million investment - paper

(All figures in U.S. dollars)

OTTAWA, April 18 (Reuters) - American George Gillett is seeking a partner willing to invest $400 million into a sporting empire that includes Liverpool soccer club and the Montreal Canadiens NHL team, a newspaper said on Saturday.

The French-language La Presse, citing sources involved with the proposed sale of the Canadiens, said such an investment would enable the financially-pressed businessman to hold on to the teams.

La Presse said Gillett had proposed to several business executives that they invest $400 million and become a junior partner, but had generated little interest so far.

Gillett said last month that he had hired a team of advisors to look at his assets and denied media reports he wanted to sell some of them.

"My family and I regard this possibility as the last resort. We are a lot more interested in some kind of (business) association than in the sale of the Montreal Canadiens or one of our other enterprises," Gillett told the newspaper on Friday.

Gillett owns 80.1 percent of the Canadiens and 50 percent of five-times European champions Liverpool.

Canadian media last week said would-be buyers were being asked to submit formal offers for the Canadiens and several groups had signed confidentiality agreements with the Bank of Montreal's (BMO.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) investment banking arm.

Gillett declined to comment on the reports, saying the banking arm had yet to complete its work. (Reporting by David Ljunggren, editing by Alan Baldwin; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)