Growing publisher buying 10 newspapers in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A rapidly growing publisher is buying 10 newspapers in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi from a company owned by Alabama’s public pension fund.

Carpenter Media Group said Thursday that it’s buying the newspapers from CNHI.

No price was disclosed.

Among the newspapers being sold are three in Alabama — The News Courier of Athens, The Cullman Times and the St. Clair News-Aegis. CNHI is also selling The Meridian Star in Mississippi and five newspapers in Georgia — the Dalton Daily Citizen, The Union-Recorder of Milledgeville, the Valdosta Daily Times, The Moultrie Observer and The Tifton Gazette.

Carpenter Media Group is based in Natchez, Mississippi, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It became independent last year when Chairman Todd Carpenter divided newspapers he owned from those owned by Boone Newsmedia, a company where he was a longtime executive. Boone and Carpenter had previously managed their newspapers jointly.

Earlier this year, Carpenter Media, with support from Canadian investment firms Canso Investment Counsel and Deans Knight took over 150 newspapers, magazines and websites previously owned by Black Press Media of Surrey, British Columbia. Those newspapers included dozens of operations across western Canada, as well as the Star-Advertiser in Honolulu, Hawaii, and newspapers in Alaska and Washington. Black Press Media had earlier filed to restructure its financial affairs in Canada, saying its liabilities of $195 million Canadian dollars outweighed its assets.

Carpenter Media Group also publishes other newspapers, websites and magazines in Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

CNHI is based in Montgomery, Alabama, and is owned by the Retirement Systems of Alabama, a pension fund for state and public school employees in that state. CNHI will continue to publish newspapers in 18 states.