The sale of Cirque du Soleil to a group headed by an American private equity firm and its Chinese partners- has been approved by Ottawa.

The deal is worth about one-and-a-half billion dollars.

Industry Minister James Moore says the request to acquire the famous circus was deemed – an overall economic benefit for Canada.

The buyers have committed to maintain the Cirque’s strategic decision-making and creative and artistic development at its Montreal headquarters – and ensure that at least 70 per cent of the Cirque’s senior management in Canada is Canadian.

In April, Cirque founder Guy Laliberte announced that he was selling his majority stake in the company he founded in 1984 – for an undisclosed price.