Journal Communications has paid more than $31.8 million to acquire all shares of a special class of stock held by heirs of the company’s former chairman Harry J. Grant.
Journal repurchased 3,264,000 Class C common shares outstanding, all of which were owned by members and successors of the Grant family. Those shares were held by heirs of former chairman, who in 1937 established a trust that paved the way for more than 60 years of employee ownership before the company went public in 2003, reported The Journal Sentinel.
The company paid $6,245,536 in cash and issued unsecured subordinated promissory notes with an aggregate principal amount of $25,598,989 as the purchase price for the Class C shares. The cash payment equaled the amount of the minimum unpaid and undeclared dividend on the Class C shares.
“This transaction simplifies our capital structure and allows us to remove a class of stock that had enhanced voting and other rights,” Steven J. Smith, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
The transaction reduced the number of shares outstanding and will have a positive effect on the company’s reported earnings per share, Journal said.
