Tribune Publishing’s board recommended that shareholders approve a purchase offer from the hedge fund Alden Global Capital over a higher bid from a Maryland hotel executive, according to a securities filing Tuesday.
The filing comes a week after Stewart W. Bainum Jr., a hotel magnate, made an $18.50 per share offer for the whole company. Mr. Bainum initially had agreed with Alden to spin off three of Tribune’s titles — The Baltimore Sun and two smaller Maryland papers — at the price of $65 million. But negotiations between Alden and Mr. Banium stalled over details of operating agreements that would be in effect as the Maryland papers transitioned from one owner to another, prompting Mr. Banium to pursue a bid to buy all of Tribune.
Alden, Tribune’s largest shareholder with a 32 percent stake, agreed last month to buy the rest of the company at $17.25 per share and take it private in a deal that would value the company at $630 million. Alden would buy of all the company’s remaining papers, which include The Chicago Tribune and The Daily News.
Alden has been criticized for laying off journalists and shrinking local news coverage at the roughly 60 newspapers it already owns. The hedge fund says it is keeping local newspapers from going out of business.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nytimes.com
