The NHL Board of Governors unanimously approved the purchase of the team and the Corel Centre by Canadian billionaire Eugene Melnyk on Tuesday.

Melnyk, chairman of Ontario-based pharmaceutical giant Biovail Corp., is a prominent thoroughbred horse owner and owns Toronto's St. Michael's Majors of the Ontario Hockey League.

He stepped in after the collapse of previous owner Rod Bryden's offer to repurchase the team. No sale price was announced, but a court-appointed monitor representing the creditors recommended last month that the sale of the team for $71.8 million be approved.

The Senators declared bankruptcy Jan. 9 with a debt of more than $160 million but still posted the NHL's best regular-season record and pushed the Eastern Conference playoff finals to a seventh game before losing to New Jersey. The Devils went on to win the Stanley Cup.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/news/2003/0617/1569542.html