Hedge fund seeks to buy Tribune Publishing

Hedge fund Alden Global Capital is looking to buy Tribune Publishing and take the Chicago-based newspaper company private in a deal valued at $520 million.

Alden, which owns 32% of Tribune Publishing, made an on binding proposal Dec. 14 to buy out other shareholders for $14.25 per share, according to a filing Thursdaywiththe Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We are confident that we can move forward with negotiating definitive documentation for the Transaction immediately, with the goal of entering into a binding material definitive agreement within two to three weeks, which we believe would maximize value, speed and certainty for Tribune’ s other stockholders,” Alden said in the filing.

The potential offer represents an 11% premium to the stock’s $12.79 closing price Wednesday, and would require board and shareholder approval. Alden said in the filing it could finance the transaction with cash on hand.

In the SEC filing, Alden said it had “not received any feedback” from Tribune Publishing on its proposed acquisition.

In addition to the Chicago Tribune, Tribune Publishing owns the Baltimore Sun, Hartford Courant, OrlandoSentinel, SouthFlorida Sun Sentinel, New York Daily News, the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia, and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia.

A Tribune Publishing spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An Alden spokesman declined to comment beyond the filing.

A New York-based hedge fund with a reputation for sweeping layoffs at its newspaper properties, Alden owns about 200 publications through an operating company known as MediaNews Group.