WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2011 | WWW.PGCITIZEN.CA News 7 Citizen media chain buys Victoria Times Colonist Glacier acquires Postmedia Network's B.C. community papers, real estate for $86.5 million Citizen Staff The Citizen’s media family has just grown in size and prestige. Glacier Media announced Tuesday its acquisition of Postmedia Network’s B.C. community newspapers and the Victoria Times Colonist. “The news today of the acquisition by our parent company Glacier Media Inc. of a number of significant titles owned by Postmedia is welcome for all of us here at The Citizen,” said the paper’s publisher Hugh Nicholson. “Not only does it reaffirm the strength of our company, but it proves once again that, contrary to some of the reports out of the U.S., newspapers are alive and well in Canada and still able to command an excellent price.” The acquisition of the Western-based community newspaper groups, Lower Mainland Publishing and the Vancouver Island Newspaper Group, gives Glacier the broadest local newspaper coverage in Western Canada. “This increases the market reach we now offer for local, regional and national advertisers, and provides for significant digital media opportunities,” said company president and CEO Jonathon Kennedy. It includes two other dailies The Victoria Times Colonist is among the new sister papers The Citizen is pleased to help welcome to the Glacier Media chain. and 20 weekly and bi-weekly community papers. The Times Colonist was founded in 1858 and serves Victoria and Vancouver Island. It is one of Canada’s oldest newspapers. Other papers it will buy include the Vancouver Courier, the Nanaimo Daily News and the North Shore News. It does not include The Vancouver Sun or The Province. The assets and some significant real estate cost Glacier $86.5 million, which will be financed through bank borrowing. “While the transaction is being fi- nanced with bank borrowings, Glacier will be in a stronger position as a result of the acquisition with manageable debt levels and increased cash flow,” said Kennedy. “Overall, the acquisition strengthens Glacier’s competitive position.” The Toronto-based Postmedia said it will use the money from the Glacier deal to further cut debt. “We are pleased to announce a transaction that realizes the value of the community newspaper groups in Western Canada along with the Times Colonist, a newspaper with a proud 153-year history,” Paul Godfrey, president and CEO of Postmedia, said in a separate release. “The transaction allows us to pay down debt and focus on our core properties, the ongoing transformation of our organization and growth areas of our business.” Godfrey said the media chain’s focus for fiscal 2012 is on transformation and revenue growth. “As we look ahead, our success will be in finding new opportunities for growth while transforming our organization to meet the very real changes in our industry. We remain committed to our digital first focus now and into the future.” Meanwhile, Glacier, based in Vancouver, will take on more debt to finance the purchase with bank loans. It said it will focus in the short-term on paying down debt and integrating the new papers into its business. “While the transaction is being financed with bank borrowings, Glacier will be in a stronger position as a result of the acquisition with manageable debt levels and increased cash flow,” it said. “In addition to operational needs and acquisitions, a portion of any increased cash flow could be returned to shareholders in the future through share buy backs and increased dividends.” The transaction is expected to close by the end of November. Glacier Media focuses on three media markets: local newspapers, trade information and business and professional information markets. The deal comes just after rival media group Torstar made two newspaper acquisition deals in the last week. The Toronto-based company said Monday it is paying $22.5 million to buy Performance Printing Ltd. of Smiths Falls, Ont., a publlsher of community papers and ad flyers. Late Friday, Torstar announced it will pay $51.5 million to take nearly full control of the Canadian chain of Metro free daily newspapers. — with files from CP I I Lumber exports booming in 2011 Charelle EVELYN cevelyn@pgcitizen.ca Lumber exports to China have already surpassed last year’s final total, according to trade data released by Statistics Canada. This means British Columbia has broken another record, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Pat Bell announced Sunday. Lumber exports over the first eight months of the year total $746 million. For all of 2010, B.C.’s lumber exports into China were worth $687 million. “We’ve now exceeded for the year, three billion board feet of sales into China,” said Bell. “Last year, we did 2.9 [billion board feet] for the entire year and the total value of those sales is just under three-quarters of a billion dollars.” Bell said based on the output of an average saw mill in the interior, such as Carrier, the province has shipped the entire production for a dozen mills for the entire year. “I think it’s great news in terms of stability and jobs for the people in and around the forest-dependent communities like Prince George, Vanderhoof and Mackenzie,” Bell told The Citizen. “Having a new market like China that is taking such a substantive quantity of lumber really is giving us stability in terms of the overall market picture.” The record number of lumber exports have resulted in thousands of jobs in the province and the re-opening of mills in towns such as Ladysmith and Mackenzie. B.C. is also breaking records with respect to overall merchandise exports to China and Hong Kong. Over the first eight months of 2011, overall exports are worth almost $3.4 billion - an increase of more than $1 billion over the same period in 2010. Bell told the Citizen that not only is the trade relationship with China very healthy, but markets in Korea and Taiwan are also doing very well. Lumber exports to Korea are up 26 per cent over the year to date in 2010, while those for Taiwan were up 37 per cent. “So while they’re not as big as China, they are taking substantial amount of lumber and when you add the two together, it’ll be about the production of two saw mills,” Bell said. The minister will be accompanying Premier Christy Clark on a trade mission to Asia from Nov. 4 to 16 and on the way back, Bell said he will stop by Korea for the first time. “[The province] has a small trade office in Korea already and we are looking at the potential of expanding that office,” he said. “When you see numbers like this, it gives you a real sense that would be a good decision.” With the growth in Taiwan, which is currently serviced out of China-based offices, Bell said the province may want to also consider their options in building a stronger relationship with that country as well. “It’s not the kind of news you would expect to hear right now, given what’s been going on in the global marketplace,” said Bell. “There’s lots of doom and gloom out there and when you see numbers like this, it shows British Columbia is really bucking the trend.” 51" Widescreen Samsunq Plasma TV Series 5 Ilass 1080P 120Hz LED TV SmartTV (46.9" diagonal) 60" 1080p Plasma HDTV [B33E23I 47LV5400 Why TELUS Satellite TV®? Choose from over 500 of your favourite channels, including over 100 in HD Sign up before November and receive 6 months FREE Super Channel and NFL Sunday Ticket or NHL Centre Ice. $ /month off Light Choice & Medium Choice ‘ for 6 months E LU S Regular price: • Light Choice: $33.50/month • Medium Choice: $63.95/month authorized dealer® Prices and offers good for a limited time or until merchandise is depleted. Offer subject to change without prior notice. Special offers and promotions cannot be combined. Despite the care given producing and pricing this ad, some errors may have occurred. Should this be the case, corrections will be posted in our stores. Certain products may not be available at all locations. Illustrations may differ. Offer subject to change without prior notice. Details in store. ^"TELUS authorized dealer® r Visit us online at: www. And res 1 .com ELECTRONIC EXPERTS VEARS 7 sivci 1976 01712241 Kelowna 2153 Springfield Road (250) 860-26 00 Kamloops Penticton Vernon 745 Notre Dame Drive 1001-2601 Skaha Lake Rd. 200-3107 - 48th Ave. (250) 851-87 00 (250) 493-3800 (250) 542-3000 Prince George 2591A Vance Rd. (250) 563-4447 SUBMITTED http://www.andresaudiotronic.com/ftp/andresau/upload/QRAndres/QRAndres.htm