#Final bids due for McClatchy bankruptcy auction

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Copies of the McClatchy Co. owned Miami Herald newspaper
AP

Final bids are due in the bankruptcy auction of McClatchy, the nation’s second-biggest newspaper chain, and the list of suitors is far shorter than it used to be.

The owner of the Miami Herald, the Kansas City Star, the Sacramento Bee and more than two dozen other papers had initially drawn interest from as many as 20 prospective bidders, who had signed non-disclosure agreements to look at its books.

But with bids due Wednesday, only a small handful are expected to come forward with offers in the US Southern District of New York, where the publishing giant filed for Chapter 11 in February, sources said.

So far, the only known bid is a so-called stalking-horse bid by two hedge funds acting in tandem, Chatham Asset Management and Brigade Capital Management. They are said to be ready with a bid “well in excess of $300 million” that includes swapping its $263 million in first lien notes and additional costs for 100 percent of the company.