BY STAFF, THE CANADIAN PRESS as published by Global News
posted May 26, 2020
.
Five families that built and grew media conglomerate Torstar Corp. have agreed to hand the newspapers they presided over for roughly 70 years to a Canadian investment firm that plans to take the company private.
The owner of the Toronto Star and other community newspapers revealed Tuesday evening that it reached a $52-million acquisition deal with NordStar Capital LP, a firm run by businessmen Paul Rivett and Jordan Bitove.
.
Bitove said he had been watching Torstar for some time before getting Rivett involved and approaching the company and its board chair John Honderich with a deal.
“I think what he saw in Paul and I were two young guys who were prepared to roll up their sleeves and put their shoulder to the wheel,” Rivett, who delivered newspapers as a child, said in an interview after the deal was announced.
The pair said they have no current plans to shutter papers or lay off staff and that they are committed to upholding the Atkinson principles, a set of ethics Torstar has long used to guide its coverage. Torstar owns the Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator, Waterloo Region Record, St. Catharines Standard, three other dailies and some 70 weeklies.
.
