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NEW YORK — Journal Register Co., publisher of the New Haven (Conn.) Register and other newspapers, said it has emerged from bankruptcy protection and secured new financing from its lenders, six months after making its Chapter 11 filing.
The bankruptcy process was relatively quick because the company, before making its filing in February, had reached an agreement to cancel its stock and become a private company controlled by its lenders.
With that plan approved by a federal bankruptcy judge, the company said last week that it has received exit financing of $150 million from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and $75 million from Wells Fargo as well as a new credit agreement with Wachovia. Out from Chapter 11, the company can now make decisions without a judge's supervision.
The company continues under the management of interim CEO Robert Conway, who was hired as a chief restructuring officer last year and replaced former CEO James Hall after the bankruptcy filing.
The Yardley, Pa.-based newspaper publisher sought protection from creditors amid one of the worst advertising declines in the industry's history.
When it filed for bankruptcy protection, the company listed $596 million in assets and $692 million in debt — the bulk of it held by JPMorgan Chase. The restructuring plan cut what the company owed to secured lenders to $225 million in return for ownership. The plan wiped out stockholders, largely investment funds, and split a $2 million pool among unsecured lenders.
A message left with Journal Register was not returned Tuesday and a woman who answered the phone in JPMorgan's press office said no one was available to comment.
Judge Allan Gropper approved the plan over several objections.
The company's largest union, the Newspaper Guild, as well as Connecticut and Pennsylvania state officials, objected to plans for paying up to $1.7 million in bonuses to top executives.
A $6.6 million payment from secured to unsecured debt holders also drew criticism. That money went to pay in full those deemed critical suppliers — ink and newsprint providers, for instance. Although some other unsecured debt holders, who received only 9 cents on the dollar, criticized the payment, the company argued that its newspapers would have been crippled if it couldn't pay its suppliers.
The Journal Register said Friday it has also appointed a new, four-member board: Joseph Ripp, the former chief financial officer of Time Warner Inc., Michael Diament, a former portfolio manager at Q Investments, Peter Glusker, an executive at Gilt Groupe Inc. and John Paton, the CEO of impreMedia LLC.
Besides the New Haven Register, the company owns The Middletown (Conn.) Press, The Register Citizen of Torrington, Conn., Daily Local News of West Chester, Pa., Delaware County (Pa.) Daily Times, The Mercury of Pottstown, Pa., The Times Herald of Norristown, Pa., The Trentonian of Trenton, N.J., The Reporter of Lansdale, Pa., The Phoenix of Phoenixville, Pa., The Oakland Press of Pontiac, Mich., The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens, Mich., The Daily Tribune of Royal Oak, Mich., Morning Sun of Mount Pleasant, Mich., The Record of Troy, N.Y., The Saratogian of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., The Oneida (N.Y.) Daily Dispatch, Daily Freeman of Kingston, N.Y., The News-Herald of Willoughby, Ohio and The Morning Journal of Lorain, Ohio.
