By: Jennifer Saba Tuesday's deadline for bids for 12 orphaned newspapers, set by The McClatchy Co., has passed with little official word on who bid and on what. Virtually no one was talking.
That includes the big chains expected to make offers--MediaNews Group and Gannett. It's still not known if they actually did.
A report in the Los Angeles Times reveals that "people involved in the process" said Gannett did not even make an offer. The same people said MediaNews Group, which owns the Denver Post and Daily News in Los Angeles, "bid for at least some of the papers." Various reports had a group led by Bruce Toll, vice chairman of home builder Toll Bros. Inc., bid for the two Philadelphia papers.
Reached by E&P, MediaNews CEO Dean Singleton refused comment.
Representatives for the Newspaper Guild, however, confirmed they submitted a bid to buy 12 Knight Ridder papers.
Robert Hall, the former publisher of Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. who was retained by the guild to help with the process, told E&P that Yucaipa Companies turned in a bid at Credit Suisse in New York early this afternoon. The investment bank is advising McClatchy on the sale.
?We did submit our bid today ? it was competitive and aggressive,? he said.
Hall explained the Guild-backed effort abided by auction instructions and they are hoping to they will be given an appropriate amount of time to conduct due diligence. They did not have to sign a non-disclosure statement.
?I certainly hope they will get back to us,? Hall said. ?To close out potential buyers doesn?t seem like a good move.? The guild has organized at eight of the 12 papers up for grabs.
Bids were due by 5 p.m. Tuesday for newspaper companies and investors interested in buying one, some or all of the 12 Knight Ridder papers back on the market after the tentative sale to McClatchy. Yet it appears that some interested parties were discouraged from bidding.
Knight Ridder spokesman Polk Laffoon told the San Jose Mercury News on Monday it was his understanding that McClatchy was limiting bids, for now, to those who had tried to win the big deal for Knight Ridder and signed confidentiality agreements then. That would mean merely leave Gannett, MediaNews and private equity firms.
The guild and others also complained that McClatchy has not made full financial information available to them and others, making bidding more difficult.
McClatchy released this statement: "Bidders and affiliates who signed non-disclosure agreements to participate in due diligence during the Knight Ridder auction received information from Knight Ridder. None of the dozens of parties who have contacted us about the papers we identified for sale after our agreement to purchase Knight Ridder have been provided with any additional information. All have been treated equally, and we intend to pursue agreements based on the best interests of McClatchy.''
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