The drawn-out ownership saga of the Carolina Hurricanes is coming to a close. Thursday, team president Don Waddell announced Dallas businessman Tom Dundon has signed an agreement to purchase a majority stake of the team from current owner Peter Karmanos Jr. If the sale goes final and is approved by the NHL, Dundon will take control of all of the team’s operations.

Dundon is the majority owner of Employer Direct Healthcare and co-chairman of Topgolf, and is the Chairman and Managing Partner of Dallas-based private investment firm Dundon Capital Partners. He will purchase 52 percent of the team, with Karmanos retaining 48 percent. Dundon will have an option to purchase the remaining 48 percent in three years.

“I am thrilled to continue to build upon what Peter Karmanos started in Raleigh,” Dundon said in the team’s official release. “The Hurricanes are a team on the rise, and I believe we have an opportunity to take the franchise to the next level. I’m ready to get to work.”

Karmanos, Thomas Thewes and Jim Rutherford bought the Hurricanes franchise, then the Hartford Whalers in 1994 for $47.5 million. The team was relocated from Hartford to Carolina to start the 1997-98 season.

Thewes passed away in 2008, and Karmanos sold much of his late partner’s share to minority investors, while maintaining about 70 percent himself, according to the News and Observer. He began fielding offers for his majority share in 2014. Karmanos was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015 as a builder.

“Tom has had tremendous success in business, and I fully expect that to continue as he takes control of the Hurricanes,” Karmanos said. “I look forward to working with him, and bringing another Stanley Cup to North Carolina.”

In July it was reported a sale was close with minor-league baseball owner Chuck Greenberg for close to $500 million, but the deal fell through due to Greenberg’s inability to secure sufficient investors.

Karmanos’s for-sale sign and the Canes’ attendance woes over the past few years sparked unfounded speculation the team would be sold for relocation to another market such as Quebec City. However, both Karmanos and the league continuously shot down such talk, and in a statement to Gino Reda of TSN confirming the sale agreement and saying he expects it to be finalized, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman also said the team will remain in Raleigh.

Dundon echoed those statements.

“We like [the team] where it is,” he told the Associated Press.

The Hurricanes’ lease with PNC Arena and the Centennial Authority expires in 2024.