No monetary particulars have been disclosed
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HALIFAX — Postmedia Community Inc. has introduced plans to purchase “certain businesses” belonging to SaltWire Community Inc. and The Halifax Herald Ltd., the 2 bancrupt corporations behind Atlantic Canada’s largest newspaper chain.
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The Toronto-based firm, which owns publications together with the Toronto Solar, Nationwide Put up, Vancouver Solar, Calgary Herald and Ottawa Citizen, says it desires to finish the acquisition by Aug. 26. However the firm issued a press release Friday saying the deal is topic to situations, together with approval from the Nova Scotia Supreme Court docket and “satisfactory outcomes” with unionized employees.
Postmedia CEO Andrew MacLeod mentioned the corporate intends to supply the assets to make sure “reliable and high-quality local news” continues to be offered to the affected communities within the Atlantic area.
“SaltWire filed for (protection from its creditors) after years of financial difficulties, underscoring that its current operational model is unsustainable,” MacLeod mentioned within the assertion.
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“In order to save critical journalism jobs, we will need the support of the relevant unions to help construct a viable business model.”
No monetary particulars have been disclosed and MacLeod didn’t clarify what he desires from the unions that signify the 2 media corporations’ employees.
“We urge all stakeholders, including employees and community leaders, to support our efforts. The future of local journalism in the Atlantic provinces depends on everyone’s co-operation in a successful restructuring,” MacLeod mentioned.
The Halifax Herald Ltd. owns The Chronicle Herald, the impartial Halifax-based each day newspaper that was based nearly 200 years in the past.
SaltWire Community Inc. owns different each day newspapers in Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and Newfoundland, together with the Cape Breton Put up in Sydney, N.S., the Guardian in Charlottetown and the Telegram in St. John’s, N.L., in addition to weekly papers and several other digital publications. Collectively, the businesses make use of about 800 impartial contractors and 390 workers, together with about 100 unionized positions, in keeping with court docket paperwork.
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The assertion didn’t specify which companies Postmedia plans to purchase.
On March 11, Toronto-based Fiera Personal Debt Fund initiated insolvency proceedings in opposition to SaltWire and The Herald beneath the federal Firms’ Collectors Association Act (CCAA), saying the businesses owed greater than $90 million to an extended checklist of collectors after a number of years of mismanagement. On the time, Fiera alleged that senior managers had left the operations “on the verge of a liquidity crisis.”
The federal act permits corporations with greater than $5 million in debt to keep away from chapter whereas drafting a plan that ensures collectors obtain some fee for what they’re owed.
As senior secured lender, Fiera has mentioned SaltWire and The Herald collectively owe it $32.7 million.
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Fiera had lent cash to SaltWire to assist the Halifax-based firm pay for its 2017 acquisition of Transcontinental Nova Scotia Media, which revealed greater than two dozen newspapers and web-related properties, and owned 4 printing crops. In 2019, SaltWire filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in opposition to Transcontinental, alleging the corporate overstated revenues the enterprise would produce.
When Fiera went to court docket in March, the non-public lender mentioned SaltWire and the Herald had been in default for greater than 5 years and have been making little progress repaying money owed. The media corporations have been additionally accused of failing to prime up pension funds and remit HST funds to the federal authorities.
On March 13, Nova Scotia Supreme Court docket Justice John Keith granted the businesses safety from collectors, a measure that has been prolonged a lot of occasions.
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Relatively than push the media corporations into receivership, Fiera has supported a restructuring and sale course of via a sequence of loans which have allowed SaltWire and The Herald to maintain working beneath CCAA.
On March 25, Keith authorised a so-called gross sales and funding solicitation course of, which concerned canvassing the marketplace for companies keen to purchase or spend money on some or all the deeply indebted corporations’ enterprise operations and property.
The 2 media corporations are owned by Mark Lever and his spouse Sarah Dennis. Earlier this 12 months, Lever stepped down as president and CEO of SaltWire, at which level he was anticipated to submit a bid for the businesses. It stays unclear whether or not that occurred.
In all, 4 certified bidders got here ahead to purchase all or a part of the businesses’ companies and different property. On the time, none was named.
On June 20, the court-appointed monitor overseeing the insolvency proceedings, Toronto-based KSV Restructuring Inc., confirmed the choice of an unnamed bidder.
With the assistance of the monitor, Keith will finally resolve whether or not the deal will make sure the survival of the businesses and permit collectors to obtain some type of fee for quantities owing.
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