 |
| A reprieve -- or maybe a Chapter 11 reorganization, for Lee Enterprises. |
Lee Enterprises, the Iowa-based owner of the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other newspapers, including the
Arizona Daily Star, announced late this afternoon that it
reached an agreement with "a significant majority" of its debt holders to amend and extend its credit to 2015 and 2017 -- instead of next April, when the debt was supposed to come due.
The company currently has nearly $1 billion debt; the agreement announced today will delay payment on $689 million of it.
But there's a big "but" to the plan: As a condition to the extension, Lee must refinance an additional $175 million in debt, the company disclosed. That debt, known as the "Pulitzer Notes," was incurred when the company purchased the
Post-Dispatch and other papers in the Pulitzer chain in 2005.
And if it can't find someone willing to do the refinancing, Lee says, it will file for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.
More >>