A private equity fund has filed insolvency proceedings against Atlantic newspaper owner SaltWire Network Inc., claiming it owes tens of millions of dollars. The Chronicle Herald sign is seen in Halifax on Thursday, April 13, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
HALIFAX – A private equity fund is initiating insolvency proceedings against Atlantic newspaper owner SaltWire Network Inc., claiming it owes tens of millions of dollars after several years of mismanagement.
In documents filed to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia on Monday, Fiera Private Debt Fund said Saltwire and The Halifax Herald Ltd. together owe it $32.7 million, plus almost $600,000 of accrued and outstanding interest.
About three-quarters of that debt is owed by Saltwire, which owns a number of news publications across Atlantic Canada including Halifax’s Chronicle Herald, the Telegram in St. John’s, and the Guardian in Charlottetown.
Fiera said in the filings that senior management of the company has mismanaged the business, used employee pension funds for operations and failed to remit HST, among other allegations.
It said in the documents the companies are insolvent and “on the verge of a liquidity crisis.”
Fiera said it loaned money to Saltwire to help fund its 2017 acquisition of several businesses from Transcontinental Nova Scotia Media Group Inc.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2024.
