09:13 AM EDT, 08/14/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Rogers Communications Inc. was at last look up 0.5% in US premarket trade as it entered Thursday into a definitive agreement with InfraRed Capital Partners to sell its portfolio of nine Rogers Business data centres for an undisclosed sum.

This comes after Rogers in July closed its transaction to acquire BCE's 37.5% ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) for C$4.7 billion. Rogers is now the largest owner with a 75% interest in MLSE.

Thursday's statement noted that Rogers will continue to sell data centre services on behalf of InfraRed and will provide network connectivity to the data centres.

InfraRed is part of Sun Life (SLF.TO, SLF), a Canadian-based financial services company, and according to the statement an "experienced digital infrastructure owner".

Rogers said the transaction is part of its planned sale of real estate and non-core assets. Rogers intends to use the net proceeds from the transaction to repay debt. The transaction is expected to close by year end 2025, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval. The transaction does not include Rogers corporate data centres used for the company's network and IT purposes.