Friday, July 17, 2020

Chatham wins McClatchy auction



McClatchy announced today that the auction held as a part of its court-supervised sale process has concluded with Chatham Asset Management the successful bid.
Under terms of the proposed agreement, which will be finalized and filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the coming days, McClatchy will “transition out of Chapter 11 as it entered it: in its totality, as one company serving 30 communities across America,” said an announcement from Sacramento-based McClatchy.
The proposed agreement positions McClatchy to exit Chapter 11 protection in the third quarter of 2020, having achieved a resolution and restructuring of the company's complex legacy debt and pension obligations, McClatchy says. The company continues to expect that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) will assume McClatchy's qualified pension plan, The McClatchy Company Retirement Plan. McClatchy is contributing an estimated $1.4 billion in pension assets to the PBGC.
The agreement will be subject to court confirmation, currently scheduled for a hearing on July 24, as well as customary regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
New Jersey-based hedge fund Chatham is McClatchy biggest creditor.
The auction was on Friday. Federal judge Michael E. Wiles shot down a challenge by a second hedge fund, New York based Alden Capital Group, to Chatham’s bid.
Among McClatchy’s papers are the Miami Herald, Charlotte Observer, Kansas City Star, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Sacramento Bee.
Ken Doctor has an analysis here and Rick Edmonds from Poynter writes here.

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