Updated: Bids were due today for the 12 Knight Ridder papers being sold by McClatchy as part its pending acquisition of the larger company, with few offers expected for the full dozen. The papers could sell in the range of $1.4 billion-$2 billion, which would help McClatchy pay down its substantial post-purchase debt. Anticipated bidders include:
– Newspaper Guild-CWA backed by private equity firm Yucaipa; bidding for all 12 although only 8 are unionized. Technically, the bid comes from Yucaipa. They have complained about a lack of cooperation from McClatchy.
– Dean Singleton’s MediaNews Group is expected to bid for Northern California properties.
– Gannett is thought to be interested in some papers, possibly The News-Sentinel in Ft. Wayne; Gannett already owns two Indiana papers.
– Philadelphia investors, led by home building exec Bruce Toll, bidding for the two hometown papers.
– Lee Newspapers is expected to bid for midwestern properties although the chain is still digesting its own major acquisition, Pulitzer Publishing. (Disclosure: My partner is an editor at Lee’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a former Pulitzer paper, and my health insurance is through the company.)
AP: Analyst John Morton expects the logical buyers to be owners of nearby papers. The union-Yucaipa effort could be the longest shot.
Update: LAT (reg. req.): At least three bids have been submitted: Yucaipa for all 12; MediaNews for some; the Philadelphia investors for those two papers. Despite the Tuesday deadline, McClatchy is said to have to told other investors they can still submit bids. The bid process is expected to take about two months.
Related: Knight Ridder Board Accepts McClatchy’s Bid For $4.5 Billion: Report
Subscriber content
?
Subscriber content comes from Gigaom Research, bridging the gap between breaking news and long-tail research. Visit any of our reports to learn more and subscribe.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Comments have been disabled for this post