Asahi Associates - Tribune Company Seeks Single Buyer.

Online, March 19, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Asahi Associates is believed to have announced in a recent meeting that Media company Tribune Co. is seeking a single buyer for all of its publications.

Tribune Co, which was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection up until the end of last year, is hopeful of finding a single buyer for its entire newspaper portfolio. Tribune owns the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times amongst other daily newspapers.

Tribune is divesting its newspaper business to allow it to focus on its highly profitable television business and a single transaction would greatly simplify that process. Asahi Associates reportedly commented that Tribune is the operator of 23 television stations, along with a number of websites, and brought in Peter Liguori, former Fox Broadcasting President, as CEO after it emerged from bankruptcy.

Asahi Associates allegedly remarked that there are a number of bidders interested in individual assets, with News Corp. looking at the Los Angeles Times and the publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, Wrapports LLC, expressing an interest in the Chicago Tribune. It has also been suggested that Warren Buffett was interested in some assets, but not in taking over Tribune as a whole.

Freedom Communications Inc., owned by Aaron Kushner, is one of the bidders believed to be interested in taking on the entire portfolio. Freedom owns a number of newspapers in California, including the Orange County Register.

Asahi Associates seem to believe that it may still be possible for the assets to go to separate buyers, as long as they team up to make a single bid. Tribune Co. has hired Evercore Partners and JPMorgan Chase as financial advisers to help assess bids.