Bidders express interest in buying all or part of SaltWire newspaper business

A Toronto-based restructuring firm says several bidders have offered to buy all or part of SaltWire Network and The Halifax Herald, the two insolvent companies that operate Atlantic Canada's largest newspaper enterprise.

Several bidders have offered to buy all or part of SaltWire Network Inc. and The Halifax Herald Ltd., the two insolvent companies that operate Atlantic Canada's largest newspaper enterprise, a restructuring firm says.

Toronto-based KSV Restructuring Inc., in a report filed Friday, said some of those non-binding offers, if accepted, would enable the deeply indebted companies to continue operating as viable businesses.

"As of the ... bid deadline, several indicative non-binding letters of intent were submitted from interested parties for all or part of the media companies' business and assets, including offers that, if completed, would see the business continue on a going-concern basis," KSV's report says.

The one-page report does not say how many bids were received by Thursday's initial bidding deadline, and it doesn't provide any details about who submitted the bids.

More than 250 prospective purchasers and potential investors were sent so-called teaser letters and non-disclosure agreements advising them of the sale process, KSV says.

Former SaltWire president and CEO Mark Lever has said he planned to submit a bid. Court documents show SaltWire and its related companies are owned by Lever and his wife Sarah Dennis through separate family trusts that each have a 50-per-cent stake in the private businesses.

The next step is for KSV to conduct a due diligence process that will determine which bidders will be asked to submit binding offers by May 24 at 5 p.m., which could lead to court approval for a transaction no later than June 28 and an anticipated closing deadline of July 31.