Two Kentucky daily newspapers are sold

CNHI purchases Ashland Daily Independent

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Dow Jones & Co. announced Feb. 21 that it had sold four of its Ottaway Newspapers Inc. properties to Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. Among the four is the Ashland Daily Independent in Kentucky. The purchase price for the four is about $182 million, the companies announced. The transaction should be completed by the end of March.

In addition to Ashland, CNHI purchased the Joplin (Mo.) Globe, the Mankato (Minn.) Free Press and the Sharon (Pa.) Herald. For 2001, the four papers had combined revenues of $47 million and operating income of $12 million. Ottaway will continue to publish 15 daily and more than 30 weekly papers in 10 states.

“After a review of all Ottaway newspaper locations, we have decided to focus our future growth outside of these markets and to pursue newspaper acquisitions in other regions of the country,” James H. Ottaway, senior vice president of Dow Jones and chairman and CEO of Ottaway Newspapers, said. “I would like to thank the management and employees of these high quality papers for their dedicated service to the communities they serve, and their contribution to the success of Ottaway newspapers and Dow Jones.

“I wish them well with CNHI, one of the largest and best-managed community newspaper companies in the country.”

“We are very happy to add these outstanding newspapers to the CNHI family,” said Mike E. Reed, president and CEO of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. “We anticipate no changes to the daily operations of the newspapers and looking forward to continuing the tradition of serving their communities and customers.”

CNHI was formed in 1997 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Ala. It owns 105 daily papers and 77 non-dailies in more than 200 communities in 21 states. Daily circulation is more than 1.1 million.

Lee purchases Maysville from Howard Publications

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- Lee Enterprises Inc. announced Feb. 12 that it had reached an agreement to acquire Howard Publications, a family-owned company of 16 daily newspapers. The Ledger-Independent in Maysville was among the papers acquired by Lee.

The transaction, valued at $694 million, will be paid for with $440 million in cash and new bank borrowing. Howard newspapers have total daily circulation of 479,000 and include the North County Times in Oceanside and Escondido, Calif., (89,000 daily circulation), The Times of Northwest Indiana (88,000) and the Waterloo Courier in Iowa (44,000).

Others include Wyoming's largest newspaper, the Star-Tribune in Casper; The Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho, near the Sun Valley ski resort area, and The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y. The purchase includes Howard's half-interest in the Sioux City Journal in Iowa.

With the acquisition, Lee will own 38 daily newspapers and have a joint interest in six others, with total circulation of 1.1 million daily and 1.2 million Sunday in 18 states.

Mary Junck, Lee Enterprises chief executive officer, said the purchase fulfills a strategy announced two years ago when Lee decided to sell its television stations in order to expand in newspapers.

"The Howard newspapers fit precisely with our core strategy of buying mid-size newspapers in good markets," she said. "As we've said repeatedly, we believe that publishing newspapers in these size markets is a wonderful business, one that we have proven we know how to do well. Buying Howard will further strengthen our standing as the preeminent newspaper group serving mid-size markets."

Lee Enterprises is based in Davenport, Iowa. It currently owns 23 daily newspapers and a joint interest in five others. Newspapers include those in Madison, Wisconsin; Lincoln, Nebraska; Billings, Montana; and Davenport, Iowa. Lee also owns more than 100 weekly newspapers, shoppers and specialty publications, along with associated online services. Its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LEE.