MediaNews Denies ‘Bankruptcy’ Report

Fitz: Ever heard of Debtwire? Neither had we. It publishes newsletters with subscription prices that we can only guess are pretty high. Let’s put it this way, they don’t list the prices on their Web site.

So we wouldn’t have known anything of Debtwire’s blockbuster report last week that Dean Singleton’s (left)  MediaNews Group was assembling a pre-packaged bankruptcy giving its bankers effective control of the nation’s third-largest newspaper publisher. Wouldn’t have known, that is, if Westword media writer Michael Roberts on Wednesday hadn’t let the rest of the world know what Debtwire was saying about MediaNews.

MediaNews rushed out a statement Wednesday evening stoutly denying the story, which it called “inaccurate in almost all respects.” There’s no bankruptcy in the works, no change in control contemplated, the company said from its Denver HQ.

MediaNews did acknowledge being “in discussions with its bank lenders to restructure its balance sheet, including an exchange of some of its bank debt for equity in the company.”

The whole story is over at E&P’s Web site. The MediaNews statement is below the fold.

DENVER, CO ... A media report on Wednesday, citing rumors from unnamed sources, reports that MediaNews Group has proposed a refinancing plan to its bank lenders that would cause a change in control of the company and possibly involve a bankruptcy filing.

The story is inaccurate in almost all respects. As previously reported, MNG is in discussions with its bank lenders to restructure its balance sheet, including an exchange of some of its bank debt for equity in the company.

Proposals to the company's lenders do not include a change in control of the company, nor do they include proposals for any bankruptcy filings, as the rumors suggest.

MediaNews Group remains in compliance with its bank agreements while refinancing discussions continue.