Bulkley not new to CL
Turns out that the financial services company that Creative Loafing Inc.’s lead creditor plans to turn to if it gains control of the troubled alt-weekly company has had some dealings with CL before: Bulkley Capital shepherded the 2007 sale of the Chicago Reader and the Washington City Paper to Creative Loafing Inc.
According to Bulkley’s website:
Bulkley Capital was called upon by two of the country’s leading alternative weekly newspapers, the Chicago Reader and the Washington City Paper, to represent them through final negotiations and due diligence in their sale to Creative Loafing, Inc., owner of alternative weeklies in Atlanta, Tampa, Sarasota and Charlotte.
Tom Yoder, one of the owner of the Reader and the City Paper, is featured in a testimonial on the Bulkley website lauding the company for its discrete handling of the deal: “Bulkley Capital was extremely useful in advising us, keeping the deal on track and sheperding it through to a sale. It was completely top-secret. And we ended up astonished that word never got out – astonished and delighted.”
The 2007 transaction didn’t turn out to be as good for Creative Loafing as it was for the 11 former owners of the Reader and the City Paper. CLI CEO Ben Eason borrowed $40 million to buy the two altweeklies and to retire a existing $16 million debt. On Sept. 29, 2008, when he was about to be held in default because he couldn’t make scheduled payments, Eason took the company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. For the time being, that’s prevented Atalaya Capital, an investment fund, from taking control.
Today, in a hearing that could determine whether Eason must finally turn the company over to Atalaya, an Atalaya official announced that the investement fund had contracted with Bulkley Capital to help manage CLI. At the same time, as its own description of the Reader/City Paper deal makes clear, Bulkley has a track record of arranging sales:
The owners were seeking a buyer with a proven track record and a clear plan for taking the papers to the next level, while maintaining the strong culture and commitment to quality they had established for their readers and employees. Bulkley Capital worked alongside the shareholders to evaluate the buyer’s operations and plans for integration. Despite a challenging environment in the publishing industry, which has seen increased competition and a decline in readership and advertisers, Bulkley Capital succeeded in negotiating and consummating a complex transaction that achieved the economic and structural goals of the selling shareholders, including separate treatment of and added value for the real estate holdings.
The usual disclosure: I’m the former editor of Creative Loafing/Atlanta. Eason fired me in November after I suggested that he cut his corporate and administrative expenses before continuing to cut Sales and Editorial.
Related posts:
- CL ruling today Creative Loafing Inc. management, employees and creditors will find out...
- Atalaya: Keep CL alive Creative Loafing would get more resources if control was taken...
- CL employees to judge: What about us? A bankruptcy judge must now weigh the Eason family's legacy...
- Eason keeps control Bankruptcy Judge Caryl Delano ruled today against a motion by...
- Not easy on Eason Creative Loafing Inc. CEO Ben Eason had a rough day...
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Comments
One Comment on Bulkley not new to CL
-
Charles Cartwright on
Wed, 11th Mar 2009 8:42 pm
We can only hope that you will be reinstated as Editor (if you are still available) when the Loaf get its financing straightened out.
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