Lee Enterprise stock nearly doubled in price to $1.71 a share earlier this week after news the company had received approval to exit bankruptcy and complete its planned debt refinancing.
The Davenport-based publisher of 48 newspapers, including the Quad City Times, filed for voluntary bankruptcy December 12, 2011 in order to get a small group of lenders bound to terms of the refinancing.
As part of a plan to refinance its nearly $1 billion in debt, Lee Enterprises will give lenders 13 percent (6.744 million shares) of its common stock.
The deal announced Sept. 8 would give Lee more time to repay its long-term debt, largely the result of acquiring the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2005.
Lenders who will get the ownership share and a boost in interest on the refinanced debt include Goldman Sachs Lending Partners LLC, Franklin Templeton/Mutual Quest Fund and Monarch Master Funding Ltd.
Lee Enterprises -- parent of the Quad City Times -- is again facing delisting from the New York Stock Exchange while pressure mounts on the newspaper chain to refinance its more than $1 billion in debt.
According to an article by Bloomberg Thursday (7/14), Lee is in talks with creditors Monach Alternative Capital LP and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The newspaper publishing group reportedly is offering higher rates and equity interest in the company to refinance its debt, according to Bloomberg.
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