Tribune newspapers seem to be on track for sale to hedge fund

The fate of Tribune Publishing appeared nearly sealed this week after the company said it has stopped negotiating with a Maryland multimillionaire who sought to buy the newspaper chain and is back on track with a proposed deal to be acquired by a hedge fund that has a reputation for cost-cutting.

On Tuesday morning, Tribune CEO Terry Jimenez told employees that company shareholders will vote May 21 on whether to accept a purchase offer from the hedge fund, Alden Global

Capital.

Alden Global Capital owns MediaNews Group, parent company of The Oakland Press/Royal Oak Tribune.

The statement came after a Swiss billionaire backed out of a deal with his consortium to put in a bid for the Tribune chain over the weekend.

Despite the seemingly dim prospects of coming up with an offer to compete with Alden’s, Maryland businessman Stewart Bainum said he was seeking to continue the consortium’s goal to put together a group of investors to buy the company, owner of the Chicago

Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, Newsday and other papers. And Tribune signaled this weekend that it would be open to hearing any such proposal, should it emerge.

People familiar with the negotiations say Hansjörg Wyss - the Wyoming-based Swiss billionaire who had joined with Bainum this month in his quest to buy Tribune - backed out after his further research indicated that the task would be far more challenging than he first anticipated. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to speak publicly about the deal.