The company that bought NWT newspaper group NNSL three years ago has filed for creditor protection and may sell to a consortium including a US-based publisher.
Black Press Ltd said on Monday the move into creditor protection – in which companies are given time to reorganize under court supervision, without having to immediately pay their debts – would allow it “to restructure its financial affairs and emerge as a stronger entity.”
Black Press owns dozens of newspaper titles across Canada and the US. In all, Black Press employs around 1,200 people.
In the NWT, NNSL publishes newspapers focused on Yellowknife, Hay River and Inuvik as well as a weekly territory-wide edition. Most NNSL staff in the NWT are based in Yellowknife.
Mike Bryant, NNSL’s publisher, referred questions from Cabin Radio about the NWT group’s fate – and the advice its employees have been given – to Black Press management.
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Projected weekly cashflow documents included in documents associated with creditor protection suggest Black Press expects to lose more than a million dollars a week in some of the weeks ahead.
According to Black Press, it is proposing a sale of its assets – among which NNSL is understood to be included – to a new ownership group.
That group includes US newspaper firm Carpenter Media, Vancouver asset management company Deans Knight and investment management firm Canso. Black Press said it would remain Canadian-controlled if that sale goes ahead.
The bid from that group is considered a stalking-horse bid, meaning Black Press wants to treat it as the minimum bid in a forthcoming sale process that might generate a better offer from someone else.
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Black Press said it “intends to continue operating its publications during the restructuring process.”
NNSL, or Northern News Services Ltd, was formally acquired by Black Press on April 1, 2021.
That sale ended the Yellowknife-based group’s near half-century of independent news publishing in the North.
Papers also under Black Press control include Yukon News alongside 14 titles in Alberta and dozens in British Columbia.
Titles published by NNSL include two Yellowknifer editions per week, Nunavut News, Kivalliq News, Hay River Hub, Inuvik Drum and News/North.
