Freedom Communications gets $65 million winning bid from Tribune unit

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, March 17 – The winning bid for Freedom Communications, Inc.’s assets was a $56 million bid made by Tribune Publishing Co. subsidiary Orange County Media, LLC, according to a Tribune news release.

Specifically, the Tribune unit has agreed to buy Freedom’s business and its owned real estate in Santa Ana, Calif., and Riverside, Calif.

The sale is subject to approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California at a hearing scheduled for Monday and customary closing conditions.

“The successful bid for the business of Freedom Communications will allow the Orange County Register and the Press-Enterprise to continue providing a distinct local voice in their communities,” Tribune chief executive officer Justin Dearborn said in the release.

Earlier this week, Tribune asked the court to reject a stalking horse bid for Freedom’s assets from Medianewsgroup, Inc.

Tribune said it entered a bid on March 11 for Freedom’s business operations and real estate, and it argues that a subsequent stalking horse offer of $45.5 million from Medianewsgroup, which does business as Digital First Media, chosen by Freedom is inappropriate.

Under the terms of the stalking horse big, if Digital First is the winning bidder for the assets, the final purchase price under the stalking horse agreement would be cut by an estimated $2.2 million for net adjustments for purchased case, escrow for cure costs and contingent consideration based on collected accounts receivable.

If Digital First is not the winning bidder, Freedom said it would pay it a 2.5% break-up fee and reimburse up to $200,000 of its sale-related expenses.

The auction was scheduled for March 16.

No stalking horse bid was chosen by the Feb 12 deadline nor after the deadline to submit competing bids passed on March 11, Tribune said in its motion.

Based in Santa Ana, Calif., Freedom Communications is a newspaper company. It filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 1, 2015 under the Chapter 11 case number is 15-15311.

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