CanWest to take newspaper, interactive businesses public
By Adnews Staff
CanWest Global Communications of Winnipeg is preparing to spin off its Canadian newspaper and interactive media businesses into a public offering to be called the CanWest MediaWorks Income Fund. The fund will hold a 28% interest in CanWest's newspapers and interactive services. These include the Victoria Times Colonist, The Vancouver Sun, The Vancouver Province, the Edmonton Journal, the Calgary Herald, The Saskatoon StarPhoenix, the Regina Leader-Post, The Windsor Star, the Ottawa Citizen, The Montreal Gazette, the Nanaimo Daily News, the Alberni Valley Times and Dose, plus 21 non-daily B.C.-based community newspapers, CanWest's investment in Metro, Canada.com, FP Infomart.ca and FP DataGroup. The National Post will not be included in the fund; CanWest Global will retain 100% ownership of the national daily. Scotia Capital and RBC Capital Markets will co-lead a syndicate of underwriters for the initial public offering. CanWest expects to raise approximately $1.45 billion from the sale, which it will use to retire debt. "We have been considering this transaction for some time, as a way to unlock what we believe is significant shareholder value," said Leonard Asper, president of CanWest. "We believe that this offering will be well received by the investing public."