Philadelphia Inquirer, April 7

New group enters bidding for Inquirer, Daily News

By Joseph N. DiStefano
Inquirer Staff Writer

A group of private equity investors has joined the bidding for The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, according to a member of the group and other industry sources.

The papers are among 12 Knight Ridder daily newspapers that McClatchy Co. wants to arrange to sell before it acquires the rest of Knight Ridder this summer.

The group, which includes Philadelphia firms as well as national firms that specialize in media investments, is "focused on Philadelphia, but potentially open to other papers," said Chris Harte, a former Knight Ridder executive who is part of the group.

Harte declined to provide details of the bid or name other investors. Like Denver newspaper chain MediaNews Group, union-backed private-equity firm Yucaipa Cos. and a group of Philadelphia investors headed by Brian P. Tierney and Bruce E. Toll, the private-equity investors have signed a non-disclosure agreement giving them access to financial data.

McClatchy outbid a group of private equity firms led by Texas Pacific Group of Ft. Worth and San Francisco, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital of Boston, Hellman & Friedman and Oak Hill Partners in bidding for the company last winter.

Harte served as an assistant to then Knight-Ridder President James K. Batten in the early 1980s, and was for three months an assistant to Knight Ridder's current chairman P. Anthony Ridder. He was later publisher of Knight Ridder's newspapers in State College, Pa. and Akron, Ohio. His career introduced him to many current Knight Ridder executives, including current Inquirer and Daily News publisher Joe Natoli.

He has spent the past decade as a private equity investor; his investments include papers in Maine, among other companies.

Harte said the bidders, if successful, would likely keep the Philadelphia Daily News open alongside The Inquirer, but said they have yet to draft formal operating plans. "Anything we'd say now would be platitudes at this point because we're not far into it," he said.

"I love newspapers, and I've always loved The Inquirer," Harte added. "It would be an incredible honor to try to keep it going as a strong newspaper serving Philadelphia. I hope to get the chance to do that."

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