CTVglobemedia has sold half of its stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to fellow minority shareholder Larry Tanenbaum for an undisclosed sum.

‘It is no longer strategically important for CTVglobemedia to be MLSE’s second largest shareholder,’ CTVgm CEO Ivan Fecan said Friday in a statement.

The broadcaster sold a 7.7% stake in the Toronto sports group to Tanenbaum, upping his stake to 20.5%, behind the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan with 58.4%. MLSE includes the Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors pro sport teams and the Leafs TV and Raptors NBA TV specialty channels.

CTVgm is left with a 7.7% stake, and a seat at the MLSE board.

The media group’s remaining sports properties include a partnership with Rogers Communications, owner of Rogers Sportsnet, to broadcast the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2012 Summer Games in London as part of a deal with the International Olympic Committee.

MLSE, which also includes the Air Canada Centre and other real estate assets, has a market value of around $1.6 billion. That would value CTVgm’s 7.7% stake at upwards of $120 million.

The deal follows CTVgm signaling two weeks ago that it will cut 105 jobs and operating costs to deal with collapsed advertising revenues and a tough economy.

Tanenbaum said that, despite an ‘uncertain economic climate,’ he jumped at the chance to raise its MLSE stake when a possible deal with CTVgm came his way. Completion of the sale is contingent on league approvals.