Tribune Publishing Agrees To Purchase By Alden

BALTIMORE, MD — The Baltimore Sun and other Tribune newspapers will be purchased by a New York-based investment manager.

Alden Global Capital put in a bid to buy Tribune for $17.25 a share, which the shareholders voted to accept Friday, according to the Poynter Institute, a journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The deal has been in the works for months.

In February, Tribune reported it had entered into a purchase agreement with Alden, which already owned more than 31 percent of the company's shares.

The Chicago-headquartered Tribune Publishing Company operates papers in eight markets. Its publications include The Baltimore Sun, Capital Gazette, Carroll County Times, The Aegis, Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun Sentinel, New York Daily News, The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.), Hartford Courant, Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press in Newport News, Va.

The Maryland papers had been slated to be taken over by a nonprofit, but that plan fell apart.

In February, Tribune reported that Alden signed a "non-binding term sheet" to sell The Baltimore Sun to Sunlight for All Institute, a public charity formed by Montgomery County businessman Stewart Bainum Jr.

Discussions over a "shared services agreement" caused the purchase to unravel, according to The Baltimore Sun, which reported this prompted Bynum to try to buy the Tribune in its entirety.

In April, Tribune reported Bainum had not been able to secure financing after his partner Hansjörg Wyss pulled out of the transaction, so the company ended negotiations with him.

Bainum told The Sun his goal remains to back not-for-profit local newsrooms, and he plans to make an announcement "that might just make some news" in the coming days.

The $633 million deal with Alden is expected to be complete by June 30, according to The Sun, which stated this will make the hedge fund the second-largest newspaper owner after Gannett.

Alden Global Capital owns about 200 newspapers and has a reputation for slashing newsroom budgets and laying off reporters and editors.

See Also:

• A Ri-tronc-ulous Name Change for Baltimore Sun Owner
• Baltimore Sun To Be Sold To Nonprofit: Tribune Publishing Company
• 'Destroyer of Newspapers' To Purchase Chicago Tribune Publishing