New management for Philadelphia Inquirer taking shape

The new management group for The Inquirer is slowly taking shape, according to recent court filings that revealed a new name for the company, four directors, and the makeup of the collective ownership.

The new owner of The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com will be known as Philadelphia Media Network Inc. The company plans to take over from Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C., which sold the local media firm at auction for $139 million in April to settle its bankruptcy case.

The new company will have seven directors. Named to the board so far are Gregory Osberg, the company's chief executive officer; Bob Hall, its chief operating officer; David Hertzog, a lawyer with the New York law firm Winston & Strawn; and Martin R. Wade III, chief executive officer of Broadcaster Inc., a telecommunications and game-development company.

The company will be owned by 16 banks and investment firms, all of which had been senior lenders to Philadelphia Newspapers, according to Lawrence G. McMichael, lawyer for Philadelphia Newspapers. Philadelphia Newspapers' unsecured lenders will hold a 2.3 percent stake in the new company.

Those with the largest ownership shares are Alden Global Distressed Opportunities Fund (18.6 percent), Credit Suisse (18.1 percent), and Angelo, Gordon & Co. (17.2 percent).

Those three firms control 53.9 percent of the company. The next largest shareholder, Venor Capital Master Fund L.L.D., will hold just 5.9 percent of the company.

Citizens Bank is not among the new owners, having opted to cash out of its position as a senior lender to Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C.

The next step in the bankruptcy case comes Thursday, when Chief Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Raslavich will be asked to confirm Philadelphia Newspapers' reorganization plan, including the sale to Philadelphia Media Network.

The new ownership group still must negotiate new contracts with the company's 14 unions.