Canwest et the Gazette en faillite

[Malek]

Je crois pas qu'un journal souverainiste venderais à Toronto, c'est juste la buisness.

 

Mais en cas de séparation, le journal pourrait devenir un élément de mitigation dans les médias anglophones.

[BiloMtl]

Même si il y est, le Toronto Sun n'est pas moin fédéralist maintenant.

 

Euhhh, peu importe le propriétaire je doute fortement qu'un quotidien du ROC se laisse imposer une ligne éditoriale pro-souverainiste. Mais comme le dit Malek, ça reste du business et je suis pas mal convaincu que si le tirage du Toronto Sun pouvait augmenter il laisserait Diane Francis écrire dedans.

[MTLskyline]

Grafstein leading possible bid for portion of Canwest newspaper unit

 

Financial Post

January 18, 2010

 

Senators Jerry Grafstein (right) and David Angus. Graftstein is heading a group that will bid on some of Canwest's newspapers, including The Gazette.

Photograph by: Jim Young, Reuters file photo

 

TORONTO — A group of investors has expressed interest in a portion of Canwest Global Communications Corp.’s newspaper unit, saying it was preparing a bid for three of the chain's largest dailies.

 

Led by former senator Jerry Grafstein, the group said in a statement it plans to bid for the The Montreal Gazette, The Ottawa Citizen and the The National Post. Raymond Heard, a media consultant and longtime newspaper executive, as well as Beryl Wajsman join Grafstein in leading the consortium.

 

"Our partnership represents a cross spectrum of engaged Canadians committed to a vigorous, independent media voice for the communities that each newspaper serves," the group said.

 

Both private equity and rival media firms have been cited as candidates to acquire all or part of Canwest Ltd. Partnership (LP), which owns some of the oldest and most venerable dailies in the country.

 

The division filed for creditor protection on Jan. 8 after missing interest payments on about $1.5 billion of debt. At the time of the unit's filing under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, the unit’s secured lenders, led by Scotiabank and the other four largest banks, proposed to sell the division as a whole.

 

The secured creditor group is collectively owed more than $1 billion. RBC Capital Markets is leading the sale, which the group hopes will attract bids exceeding $925 million.

 

Failing a satisfactory bid, the group would like to flip the assets — including 10 metro dailies and 26 community newspapers — into a new, independent company and exchange its debt for fresh equity.

 

The first phase of the sale will last seven weeks, or until Feb. 26, during which bidders are asked to file indications of interest.

 

The Post, Gazette and Citizen together comprise the biggest portion of the chain in Eastern Canada. Grafstein and the consortium said they will prepare a formal offer "in the next few weeks" after completing due diligence on the three papers.

 

The release said Grafstein and the other two partners have received "strong financial commitments" from other investors, and that "additional participants in the consortium will be announced."

 

The newspaper division’s filing follows one by Winnipeg-based Canwest’s main holding entity, CMI, in October after that unit defaulted on interest payments on its debt. The subsidiary houses the Global TV conventional network and some specialty channels. It it attempting to recapitalize and emerge from CCAA by the spring.

 

A separate group of specialty channels the media conglomerate jointly owns with U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs has not filed for creditor protection.

 

Canwest News Service

© The Financial Post

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Grafstein+leading+possible+Canwest+papers/2455253/story.html

[MTLskyline]

Bondholders to buy Canwest newspaper chain for $1.1 billion

 

By Jamie Sturgeon, Financial Post

May 10, 2010 7:50 PM

 

Paul Godfrey, President and CEO of National Post, poses for a photo after announcing the investor group he is a part of has won the bid to purchase the assets of Canwest LP at the National Post newsroom in Toronto, Ont. May 10, 2010.

Photograph by: Merle Robillard, National Post

 

TORONTO — Canwest Global Communications Corp. has found a buyer for the country's largest newspaper chain, agreeing Monday to sell its publishing division to a group of its creditors led by National Post president and CEO Paul Godfrey for $1.1 billion.

 

A bid from the ad hoc committee of Canwest's unsecured bondholders has appointed Godfrey as the chief executive of the new company. The bid was selected after a months-long auction led by the publishing unit's senior creditors.

 

The $1.1-billion purchase price, which includes $950 million in cash, trumps a competing offer from newspaper rival Torstar Corp.

 

In a statement, Canwest said the new ownership group plans to "maintain all existing newspaper operations" across the chain, which includes the National Post, the flagship national newspaper, along storied metro dailies such as The Gazette in Montreal and Ottawa Citizen.

 

The newspaper division filed for creditor protection in January after missing interest payments on about $1.5 billion in debt. The secured group, led by the country's biggest banks, sought a sale of the chain and its related new media properties to recoup the $925 million they are owed.

 

The bid, if successful, means that the Canwest chain will remain intact, led by Godfrey, an executive whose experience in newspapers is rich. The buyout's biggest financial backer is New York hedge fund Golden Tree Asset Management, which owned about 30 per cent of the division's unsecured debt.

 

In a separate statement, Godfrey said he was "looking forward with great anticipation to the months and years ahead as we work together to continue the transformation of this publishing powerhouse to an integrated, multi-platform news and information company."

 

The deal was approved by Canwest's board of directors, the court-appointed monitor FTI Consulting Canada Inc. in consultation with RBC Capital Markets and Canwest's chief restructuring officer.

 

The chain also includes the Windsor Star, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, Vancouver Sun, the Province in Vancouver, Victoria Times Colonist and several related Internet properties as well as a stable of community newspapers.

 

Last year, the division generated about $1 billion in revenues, and analysts anticipate that will grow as the recession wanes and advertising spending picks up.

 

The deal still requires court approval, which is scheduled for May 17. If successful, it is expected to close July 15.

© Copyright © Canwest News Service

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Godfrey+group+Canwest+billion/3010374/story.html#ixzz0nZm2tRxF

 

Interesting.