A Maryland hotel mogul and a Swiss billionaire have made an offer for Tribune Publishing Co., which the newspaper chain is expected to favor over a purchase deal it has already reached with hedge fund Alden Global Capital LLC.
A special committee of the Tribune board has determined that an offer of approximately $ 680 million per share filed late last week by the president of Choice Hotels International Inc., Stewart Bainum and Hansjörg Wyss, is reasonably likely to lead to a proposal in excess of $ 635 from Alden. millions of people, people familiar with the matter said. This is a legal agreement stating that Alden will likely have to increase its offer or risk losing the deal.
The decision came after the two men indicated they planned to personally contribute more than $ 600 million together, up from a previous total of $ 200 million, according to people.
Now that the group has submitted a fully funded offer, it will gain access to private financial data to carry out due diligence and negotiate other terms, a big step toward finalizing an agreement that could replace Alden’s, they said. . There is no guarantee that the group will succeed and it is still possible that it may change its offer or leave after reviewing the company’s finances.
If Alden loses the deal, it would mean an impressive eleven-hour change in New York’s hedge fund and a big win for critics who say its aggressive cost-cutting model has hurt the local news industry. Alden had spent nearly a year and a half positioning himself to take over Tribune, publisher of nine major market newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News, and the Baltimore Sun.