By: (AP) Shares of Hollinger Inc. soared Friday after embattled press baron Conrad Black announced plans to buy out other shareholders of the publicly traded Canadian company at the center of his business empire.
Hollinger's shares were up 1.59 Canadian dollars ($1.30), or about 37 per cent, at $5.90 (US$4.82, euro3.79) on the Toronto stock market in trading Friday.
The proposal announced late Thursday would make Hollinger Inc. a private company and render it subject to fewer regulatory requirements such as publishing quarterly financial results and keeping independent directors on its board.
Black and Hollinger Inc. are at the center of a massive accounting controversy and stand accused of looting millions of dollars that adversaries say should have gone to Chicago-based subsidiary Hollinger International Inc., publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times and The Jerusalem Post.
The going-private transaction announced Thursday is being made through Ravelston Corp., a private company controlled by Black, who remains Hollinger Inc.'s chairman and CEO although he has been ousted from those positions at Hollinger International.
There were reports Friday suggesting Black was ready to step down from his role as chairman and chief executive at Hollinger Inc. as well.
Hollinger Inc.'s main asset is its 18 per cent equity interest and 68 per cent voting power in Hollinger International, which recently sold the London Telegraph for about $1.2 billion in cash.
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