OC Register investor group making bid for paper vs. Trib, Digital First

The chief executive of Freedom Communications, publisher of the Orange County Register and Press Enterprise newspapers, announced Friday that his investor group is jumping into a battle for the publications that includes bids from Tribune Publishing and Digital First Media.

Freedom filed a motion Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy court asking for more time to put together the bid because the financing is needed from the sales of assets that have not been sold off yet. A hearing is scheduled for March 21 on the sale of the company’s assets.

Freedom’s attorneys have asked for an extension until June 28.

The company reported in the motion that it has about $51.2 million of secured debt and about $47 million in unsecured debt, with an estimated 2,450 creditors.

Freedom claimed it has “made tremendous progress toward the filing of a plan and has done so in good faith,” according to the motion.

The company expects the sell-off of its assets to be done by the end of March.

Freedom has been paying its bills on time since its early November bankruptcy filing, the company reported in the motion.

Digital First Media owns the Los Angeles Daily News and Long Beach Press-Telegram and Tribune owns the Los Angeles times and The San Diego Union-Tribune.

— City News Service