Carpenter Media completes purchase of Star-Advertiser parent

Mar. 22—Longtime Oahu Publications Inc. President and Publisher Dennis Francis has been named senior vice president for Carpenter Media Group and will continue his leadership of OPI.

Carpenter Media Group announced today the completion of its acquisition of U.S. and Canadian publisher Black Press Media in a stock purchase together with Canadian financial partners Canso Investment Counsel Ltd. and Deans Knight Ltd.

Carpenter Media Group, Canso and Deans Knight will share ownership, and CMG will manage the companies.

Black Press Media had been restructuring since January under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. Canso and Deans Knight have been longtime creditors of the company. BPM will remain under Canadian majority ownership in compliance with Canadian laws and regulations.

CMG is a leading community media company with operations in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky.

Todd Carpenter of Natchez, Miss., is principal and chairman. Tim Prince of Mountain Brook, Ala., is CEO. CMG has offices in Natchez and Tuscaloosa, Ala., with key people working from various operations throughout the group.

BPM owns more than 150 newspapers and media operations in Western Canada, Washington and Hawaii, including the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the sixth-largest U.S. daily newspaper by print circulation. Other assets include websites, lifestyle and tourism magazines, Amazon last-mile delivery franchises and the national tourism website Hawaii.com. BPM serves about 4.5 million print readers and 13 million digital readers daily.

Several members of the Black Press management team will assume new key roles in the organization. Longtime Oahu Publications Inc. President and Publisher Dennis Francis has been named senior vice president for CMG and will also continue his leadership of OPI.

Canso, with total assets under management of over $40 billion, is based in Richmond Hill, Ontario, and provides portfolio management services to Canadian institutional and private investors. Founded in 1997, it is a private company that is owned by its investment professionals, who are dedicated to partnering with its stakeholders. The group is enthusiastic about community media and its importance to the communities it serves.

Established in 1992, Deans Knight is an independent, employee-owned asset management firm advising families, foundations and institutions. It is focused on providing clients with unique investment strategies, along with the highest level of customer service.

CMG is organized and driven to serve and develop communities through excellent local journalism, guiding the marketing and advertising of its small and medium-size business customers and developing its team members to grow personally and professionally.

"We are pleased to succeed David Black and his family in responsibility for these important institutions and the communities they serve, " said Carpenter. "We have much in common with the Black organization in values and heritage, and we will work hard to make our being chosen to lead in this next chapter of the company's development a good decision for all."

Prior to chairing CMG, Carpenter was a longtime CEO and director of Boone Newsmedia Inc., which, including CMG's holdings, managed 85 newspaper titles, various magazines, websites and other businesses in 12 states.

Dirks, Van Essen &April, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, N.M., represented Black Press.