Donerail, McClatchy, AIM bid for Tribune Publishing

Donerail Group, McClatchy and AIM Media have put in bids to buy Tribune Publishing Co., according to sources with knowledge on the bids, Bloomberg reported.  

Bids were due Nov. 1. The Tribune board was set to meet in early November after the bids came in, said the sources, who asked to not be identified.

Representatives for Tribune Publishing and McClatchy declined to comment. Representatives for Donerail and AIM did not respond to requests for comment, according to Bloomberg.

Tribune Publishing, previously known as Tronc, owns the Chicago Tribune and The Baltimore Sun, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida’s Sun Sentinel, the New York Daily News, the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa., the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia, and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. 

Sources say Tribune Publishing is seeking $17 to $20 per share, which would value the company at more than $700 million.

California-based McClatchy has more than 30 newspapers in 14 states. New York-based investment firm the Donerail Group is led by ex-Starboard Value executive Will Wyatt. Texas-based AIM Media is run by Jeremy Halbreich, a former chairman of Sun-Times Media in Chicago.

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