Company that publishes Hamilton Spectator to be sold for $52 million and taken private
- Craig Clark
- 27 May 2020
Torstar, the company that publishes the Hamilton Spectator, is to be sold to a company run by entrepreneurs Jordan Bitove and Paul Rivett in a deal worth $52 million.
The print and digital publishing company runs newspapers and websites across the country including their flagship enterprise The Toronto Star.
A deal was announced Tuesday evening by NordStar Capital after Torstar’s B shares dropped 16 per cent and closed at 40 cents per share. This is a decline from the day before when the shares improved from as low as 33 cents to 48 cents in the closing hours of Monday.
Torstar to be sold, taken private in $52-million deal https://t.co/3kfmnZrc5c
— Toronto Star (@TorontoStar) May 27, 2020
NordStar Capital’s offer was worth 68 cents per share for all Class A voting shares and Class B non-voting shares.
Bitove and Rivett said that former Ontario premier David Peterson will be vice chair of the company and current Torstar CEO John Boynton will remain in his position. NordStar intends to take the company private.
The deal was approved by Torstar’s board of directors and Fairfax, which make up a majority of the voting shareholders. Bitove and Rivett said that just over 60 per cent of the shareholders had already agreed to the transaction. A formal shareholders meeting will be held in mid-July in order to make an official vote.
In a statement, Bitove and Rivett said that taking the company private will allow them to focus on long-term goals rather than quarterly results.
“The harsh realities of the news media business are ill-suited to the quarter-bound short-term focus of shareholders. A private structure is needed and we have the patience and willingness to invest in Torstar’s long-term transformation,” Rivett and Bitove said.
Torstar’s voting shares have been controlled by a group of five families since 1957. The company publishes about 70 community newspapers, and runs many news sites and digital properties.
Their portfolio of news media had a net loss of $23.5 million in the first quarter, up from $7.5 million in the same period the year before. At the end of the first quarter, Torstar had $69.4 million in cash and cash entities with no debt.
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