Our little town of M & A

By Lou Grant | Feb 09, 1:23 PM

The deterioration of Tribune Co.'s credit, it was placed on watch by Standard & Poor's rating this week, and the potential sale of the parts of the Sun-Times Media Group has spawned a large packet of articles on the two companies and their parts. HERE is one. HERE is another.

Although the sale of the Baltimore Sun's office and production properties by the Times Mirror Channing Trust to the Tribune clearly anticipated the interest of the Tribune in developing the land currently occupied by one of the newspaper's printing operations, Jonathan Marino of Mergers Unleashed believes the long-term strategy could be the sale of the Baltimore Sun by the Tribune to the Baltimore Media Group. The BMG includes A. S. Abell, who had owned the Sun prior to the Times Mirror Co.

Steve Strahler has a piece in Crain's Chicago Business about the asset sale at the Sun-Times Media Group. His article documents why newspapers are not as interesting as for investors these days, and also assays the interest of a number of potential suitors. Here are some great quotes in the article:

Marshall Field V: "Sometimes buying low, isn't low enough."

Mark Keiser: "(the Sun-Times) is so moribund…"

Yusef Jackson and Ron Burkle: ego-driven

Also named as potential suitors were Phillip Anshutz, Lee Enterprises, Community Media Group Inc., American Consolidated Media, Tribune, Gatehouse Media and Sauk Valley Newspapers.

Tagged: Chicago Sun-Times, Marshall Field V, Crain's Chicago Business, Tribune Company