CanWest's Ottawa CitizenSean Kilpatrick
It has been a long road, and after seven months of court proceedings, the newspapers formerly owned by CanWest Global Communications Corp. have emerged from creditor protection.
The company announced on Tuesday that it had completed the $1.1-billion sale of the newspapers to a group of its unsecured lenders. The country's largest chain of newspapers is now owned by new holding company Postmedia Network Canada Corp., and operated by its subsidiary Postmedia Network Inc.
Paul Godfrey, the current chairman and chief executive officer of the National Post, now assumes the role of president and chief executive officer of Postmedia. Mr. Godfrey is in the process of appointing his senior staff at Postmedia, including his successor at the National Post.
"When you go through creditor protection, your halo gets a little bit tarnished. We've got to polish up that halo now," Mr. Godfrey said.
CanWest's newspaper division, which includes 11 large dailies such as the National Post and the Montreal Gazette, as well as 35 smaller community papers and a network of websites, entered into court protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act in January. The latest plan for the sale to the investor group led by Mr. Godfrey was approved by an Ontario court last month.
"What we'd like to do is bring [the newspaper chain]back to its level of prestige that it had for many years," Mr. Godfrey said. "The Southam papers were very prestigious. Even under Conrad Black and in the early CanWest years, they were reliable papers with great brand identity in their various markets. We want to build on that."
Postmedia plans to list its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange, but has not yet filed an application. Mr. Godfrey said that would most likely happen by the end of this year.
CanWest's broadcast division, which filed for creditor protection last October, remains under court protection until its sale to Shaw Communications Inc. is finalized.