Reading PA Radio: Bids Received For The Eagle, WEEU

Bids have been received for the purchase of Reading Eagle Company.

The Eagle reports the bidding process for the company's assets closed at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The focus now shifts to the review process, according to a written statement issued by the company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection March 20.

Reading Eagle Company President and Chief Executive Officer Peter D. Barbey declined to comment Wednesday evening.

The family-owned company filed bankruptcy protection, saying its financial situation had become untenable. It has continued to operate while a search was undertaken for a buyer.

According to the company's plan for sale, which was approved by a federal bankruptcy judge last month, a minimum bid amount was set at $5 million and bidders needed to submit a deposit of 10 percent of their bid.

The sale plan also called for potential bidders to provide various documents and verifications — including tax returns, current financial statements or bank account statements — proving they have the financial capacity to make the transaction. Potential buyers also had to sign confidentiality agreements to receive information about the company.

An auction would be open only to bidders who submitted qualified bids before the deadline. During the auction, bidders can make overbids by offering more than the highest submitted bid. Those overbids would initially have to be made in increments of $100,000.

The successful bidder will have to be approved at a court hearing next Wednesday.

Reading Eagle Company includes the Reading Eagle, WEEU 830 AM, the weekly South Schuylkill News, Pretzel City Productions and its commercial printing subsidiary REP. The company has 234 employees.

The company's financial problems began with a loan taken out in 2009 for a 77,000-square-foot expansion of its 345 Penn St. headquarters needed to house a new press and consolidated distribution center.  Just as the company took on that debt, the economy took a turn for the worse. The company was faced with declining advertising revenue, making it hard to pay back the loan.