Hedge fund Alden Global Capital makes $24 per share, all-cash offer to buy Lee Enterprises, Inc.

Hedge fund Alden Global Capital today (11/22) made an unsolicited all-cash offer of $24 per share to acquire Davenport-based Lee Enterprises, Inc. with its 77 daily newspapers including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Buffalo News, and local Quad City newspapers, the Dispatch/Argus and Quad City Times.

Alden acquired Tribune Publishing earlier this year. That publishing group includes the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Orange County Register, Boston Herald, Baltimore Sun and the Mercury News (San Jose, CA).

The hedge fund already owns a 6 percent of Lee's stock, which shot up more than 26 percent after news of the offer was made public. Lee stock closed today at $23.40 per share.

Other Iowa papers owned by Lee include the Mason City Globe, the Sioux City Journal, and the Courier in Waterloo. As part of a refinancing package with Berkshire Hathaway last year, Lee added 44 newspapers including the Omaha World Herald and the Buffalo News.

CLICK HERE to read full text of the Alden news release about its offer to buy Lee Enterprises.