NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2004--GE Commercial Finance's Global Media & Communications unit arranged a $70 million senior debt facility to fund the acquisition of newspaper assets for the formation of a new company, Heartland Publications LLC, by Wachovia Capital Partners and the Wicks Group of Companies. GE Commercial Finance will hold $30 million of the facility, which closed on April 30.
Heartland Publications comprises 22 daily and weekly community newspapers in Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The newspaper assets were purchased from Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc., a Birmingham, Alabama-based private company that is the parent for daily, weekly, and semi-weekly newspapers published in more than 200 communities throughout the U.S.
Heartland Publications will be led by James McGinnis, Chief Executive Officer, who is the former CEO of Murphy McGinnis Media, a community newspaper company. Heartland Publications will be jointly owned by Wachovia Capital Partners, the Wicks Group of Companies, and Management.
"For us, the senior debt facility represents an optimal use of leverage, providing support not only for this acquisition, but also for future initiatives to develop this platform," said Walker Simmons, Partner, Wachovia Capital Partners." We appreciated the expertise and commitment that GE's Global Media & Communications team brought to this transaction, seeing it through to a highly effective and timely conclusion."
"One of the key attributes that our group brings to transaction design is unparalleled knowledge of media operations and assets, and demonstrated experience at leveraging such operations for maximum client benefit," said David VanderLugt, Senior Vice President, Global Media & Communications. "We're pleased that this knowledge and experience was applied to such positive effect in this very significant transaction for Wachovia Capital Partners and the Wicks Group."
About GE Commercial Finance Global Media & Communications
With over $6 billion in assets and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Delhi, London, New York, Norwalk, and San Francisco, Global Media & Communications represents a "one-stop" source for the comprehensive range of GE's lending and other structured finance services offered to the media, communications, and technology industries. Key segments include radio and television broadcasting, cable, entertainment, movie theatres, outdoor advertising, publishing, technology, towers, wireless, and wireline. GE Commercial Finance, which offers businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services, has assets of over $220 billion and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. General Electric (NYSE: GE) is a diversified technology and services company dedicated to creating products that make life better. GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.
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