The financing for The McClatchy Co. acquisition of Knight Ridder came to the market last week. The deal consists of a five-year, $1 billion revolver and a five-year, $2.2 billion term loan "A." Pricing could not be determined. There is also a 24-month, $550 million bridge loan to asset sale. JPMorgan and Bank of America are leading the financing. Price talk is between LIBOR plus 75 and 87 1/2 basis points for all tranches. Elaine Lintecum, treasurer, was traveling and could not be reached by press time.
Also, last week MediaNews Group, in combination with The Hearst Corp., bought four newspapers from McClatchy for $1 billion. Those titles include: the San Jose Mercury News, the Contra Costa Times, the Monterey County Herald and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. MediaNews ratings were placed on watch negative by Standard & Poor's following the announcement of the acquisition. McClatchy is looking to sell additional papers including the Philadelphia Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer.