Hedge Fund Ups Its Stake In Tribune Publishing

Hedge fund Alden Global Capital, which became the largest shareholder in Tribune Publishing last Tuesday, has increased its stake in the Chicago-based newspaper chain to 32%.

According to The Chicago Tribune, the block purchases of another 1.6 million shares of Tribune Publishing common stock were disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday. Purchases began Wednesday and included nearly 200,000 shares purchased Monday.

Alden bought the additional shares in a private transaction, Tribune Publishing spokesman Tilden Katz said Monday.

Last Tuesday, Alden bought out the 25.2% stake of Tribune Publishing’s largest shareholder, Michael Ferro, for about $118 million. The deal priced Ferro’s 9.07 million shares at $13 each.

New York-based Alden had previously acquired about 861,000 shares of Tribune Publishing on the open market between Oct. 30 and Nov. 8, according to the regulatory filing. As of Monday, it owned 11.5 million shares, or nearly a third of Tribune Publishing’s common stock. The aggregate purchase price of the shares was $145.4 million.

Alden is in negotiations to add two seats to Tribune Publishing’s board.

Launched in 2007, Alden owns about 200 publications through an operating company now known as MediaNews Group, formerly Digital First Media. The chain has come under fire for sweeping layoffs at its newspapers, including major dailies such as the Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, as well as smaller weeklies.

In addition to the Chicago Tribune, Tribune Publishing owns the Baltimore Sun; Hartford Courant; Orlando Sentinel; South Florida’s Sun Sentinel; the New York Daily News; the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland; The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania; the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia; and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia.