Ex-Trib owners pleading for time

Former managers of the Salt Lake Tribune asked a federal judge on Friday to halt an upcoming closing date on their option to purchase the newspaper.

Calling the situation a "$355.5 million version of Monte Hall's 'Let's Make a Deal,' " the former managers said forcing a closing on the option agreement is "simply unfair and impractical."

U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart lifted a stay on the 120-day closing period earlier this week after refusing to overturn a $331 million appraisal of the Tribune. When averaged with a previous appraisal, the valuation sets the paper's fair market value at $355.5 million.

Despite the ruling, former managers argue in the latest filing that the paper's price is still "shrouded in uncertainty" and a closing cannot take place until the matter is resolved.

A hearing on Friday's motion is scheduled for Monday morning before Stewart.

Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co. (SLTPC) maintains it has a right to purchase the newspaper under a 1997 option agreement entered into when SLTPC sold the paper to Telecommunications Inc. AT&T bought TCI in 1999, and in January 2001 it sold the Tribune to Denver-based MediaNews Group Inc.

Former managers have fought to exercise the option for almost three years, but now want that closing delayed because they say the price is at least $100 million too high and the value was reached in direct violation of the terms of the option agreement.

According to Friday's filing, there also remains a question of what Tribune assets will be transferred at a closing. SLTPC alleges MediaNews has failed to properly outline what it intends to convey, leaving SLTPC with "an incomplete, flawed and encumbered set of assets."

In court earlier this week, MediaNews attorney Kevin Baine pledged that his client would deliver all assets required under the option agreement. Through previous court rulings, that has been determined to be everything except for stock in the Newspaper Agency Corp., the company that oversees advertising, printing and circulation of the Tribune and the Deseret Morning News.

MediaNews attorneys have long maintained SLTPC does not have enough money to buy the Tribune, though Stewart has denied numerous MediaNews' requests to hold a hearing to delve into SLTPC's financial situation. However, in Friday's filing, SLTPC states that it is "commercially infeasible for (SLTPC) to obtain financing without prior resolution of the uncertainties as to price and assets."

The current circumstances, the motion states, could make arranging financing more difficult and perhaps "completely unobtainable."

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E-mail: awelling@desnews.com