Debt-laden CanWest Global unloads some of its newspapers
CanWest Global Communications Corp. has reached an agreement to sell its community newspapers and related assets in Atlantic Canada and Saskatchewan to G.T.C. Transcontinental Group Ltd. for $255 million in cash. The assets include 10 dailies and two weeklies, 32 related publications, and related printing operations. The assets that were sold contributed about $30 million annually to CanWest’s operating profits, according to CanWest. Transcontinental said combined the newspapers employed 900 people, and generated about $100 annually in revenues. The deal, subject to the approval of the Competition Bureau, is expected to close in mid-August. CanWest also announced that "additional potential asset sales remain a high priority of CanWest, including those community newspapers located in Ontario that did not form part of today’s announcement." The broadcaster had initially acquired the newspapers as part of its convergence plan centred around content (CCR, Feb. 14/01). Under the deal, Transcontinental also becomes the printer of the National Post in the Atlantic provinces.