Chatham emerged as the successful bidder during an auction held on
"This is a major milestone towards McClatchy's successful resolutions of its court-supervised reorganization process and towards the sustainability of independent local journalism in the 30 communities that we serve," said
"We look forward to completing the transaction expeditiously so that McClatchy can continue to focus on the important journalism on which local communities depend," said Chatham.
Under the terms of the asset purchase agreement approved by the Court, the entirety of the 30 McClatchy news organizations will move seamlessly to the new ownership structure under Chatham and employees will be offered their current job with new McClatchy, with equivalent compensation, benefits and full credit for service years. The agreement also provides that new McClatchy will honor all current collective-bargaining agreements.
"I want to extend my deepest appreciation to my colleagues at McClatchy for their resilience and patience during this process, and for their steadfast commitment to essential, local journalism. Our communities are better informed and stronger because of your work," added Forman.
McClatchy continues to expect that PBGC will assume the assets and liabilities of the qualified pension plan and continue to pay benefits to the plan participants, subject to federal statutory limits, with no adverse impact for substantially all plan participants.
About McClatchy
McClatchy operates 30 media companies in 14 states, providing each of its communities with strong independent local journalism in the public interest and advertising services in a wide array of digital and print formats. McClatchy publishes iconic local brands including the
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release regarding the agreement, as well as the restructuring and sale process, and any other statements about management's future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects, including our planned sale to Chatham, constitute forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates" and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. There are a number of important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including: the failure to obtain regulatory approvals in a timely manner or otherwise; the failure to obtain the satisfaction or waiver of the other conditions to closing of the sale transaction; the effects of the Court rulings in the Chapter 11 proceedings and the outcome of the proceedings in general; the length of time McClatchy will operate in the Chapter 11 proceedings; as well as the other risks listed in the Company's publicly filed documents, including McClatchy's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
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SOURCE McClatchy
Media - Jeanne Segal, 1+202-271-8880, jsegal@mcclatchy.com, or Rachel Chesley, FTI Consulting, 1-212-850-5681, mcclatchy@fticonsulting.com; Investor - Stephanie Zarate, (916) 321-1931, szarate@mcclatchy.com