Court Approves Sale of McClatchy to Chatham Asset Management

The McClatchy Company (OTC-MNIQQ) (“McClatchy”) today announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Court”) has approved the sale of substantially all of McClatchy’s assets, including all 30 of McClatchy’s news organizations, to Chatham Asset Management LLC (“Chatham”).

Chatham emerged as the successful bidder during an auction held on July 10, 2020. As previously disclosed, Chatham will acquire substantially all of McClatchy’s assets for approximately $263 million in a credit bid of McClatchy’s first-lien debt, plus new money consideration of approximately $49 million in cash. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. McClatchy expects to complete the transaction in September.

“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 Craig Forman, President and CEO of McClatchy. “As McClatchy transitions with a strengthened capital structure, the company will be well positioned to accelerate the digital transformation our team has worked so hard to achieve.”

“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.
http://investors.mcclatchy.com/news-releases/news-release-details/court-approves-sale-mcclatchy-chatham-asset-management

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