They’ve got the money. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday night that the rival bid for Tribune Publishing has moved from do-gooder pipe dream to an actual pile of (digital) cash, sitting in a bank account somewhere, waiting to be spent.
The prospect of this bid — from a hotel executive and a Swiss billionaire — is noteworthy as much because of who it’s against as who it’s from. This roughly $680 million bid is the best opportunity to stop Tribune’s papers from going to Alden Global Capital, the Patrick-Bateman-asking-if-you-like-Huey-Lewis-and-the-News of the news industry.
A special committee of Tribune’s board has determined that a roughly $680 million, $18.50-a-share bid submitted late last week by Choice Hotels International Inc. Chairman Stewart Bainum and Hansjörg Wyss is reasonably likely to lead to a proposal that is superior to Alden’s $635 million deal, people familiar with the matter said. That is legal deal-speak indicating Alden may need to raise its bid or risk losing the deal…
If Alden loses the deal, it would mark a stunning, 11th-hour turnaround for the New York hedge fund, and a major victory for critics who say its model of aggressive cost-cutting has hurt the local news industry. Alden had spent nearly a year-and-a-half positioning itself to take over Tribune, publisher of nine large-market daily newspapers including the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and the Baltimore Sun.
Alden struck a deal in February to pay $17.25 per share for the rest of the company. It had agreed to separately sell Mr. Bainum the Baltimore Sun for $65 million once the Tribune deal was finalized. That side deal fell apart over disagreements about the cost of continuing services the Sun would have received from Tribune after the sale.
Assuming the Bainum/Wyss deal is indeed sound — and Swiss billionaires tend to have cash at the ready — there are seemingly two paths forward.
