Report: No Locals Stepping Up For Chicago Tribune

A Maryland hotel executive has committed more of his own fortune to an eleventh-hour bid for Tribune Publishing but he has one major hole to fill: No one wants to own the Chicago Tribune.

The Chicago Tribune reports Stewart Bainum Jr., chairman of Choice Hotels, technically can mount a fully financed $680 million bid anytime before shareholders meet May 21 to vote on a deal to sell the Chicago-based newspaper chain to hedge fund Alden Global Capital for $633 million.

On Wednesday, Bainum notified a special committee of the Tribune Publishing board that he would increase his commitment to $300 million. Bainum, who wants to own The Baltimore Sun and sell the rest of the portfolio, has buyers lined up for the chain’s other titles, but not the flagship paper in Chicago, a source close to the situation said.

“We just need someone to step up for the Chicago Tribune,” the source said Friday.

In addition to the Chicago Tribune, Tribune Publishing owns The Baltimore Sun; the Hartford (Connecticut) Courant; the Orlando (Florida) Sentinel; the South Florida 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.

Sources said the upcoming week will likely be critical to mounting a successful bid to buy Tribune Publishing and thwart Alden, which has a reputation for sweeping layoffs at its newspaper properties.

Bainum, who is burning up the phone lines to Chicago’s wealthiest benefactors, puts his odds at about 50-50 that he will be able to submit a superior offer in time, the source said.

Alden, Tribune Publishing’s largest shareholder with a 31.6% stake, reached an agreement in February to buy the rest of the company at $17.25 per share and take it private. The proposed merger will require approval from two-thirds of Tribune Publishing’s other shareholders.

Bainum previously signed a nonbinding agreement to buy The Baltimore Sun for $65 million upon Alden’s acquisition of Tribune Publishing. That deal hit a snag last month over the terms of a transition services agreement for the Sun.