Following recent FCC approval, Citadel Investment Group has closed on Bud Paxson’s control stake in Ion Media Networks. CEO Brandon Burgess was elected Chairman Friday as Larry Patrick resigned along with two other independent directors, Fred Smith and Lucie Salhany. Citadel already owns almost all of the public shares of the company, but a small number have still been trading. Those should be called in soon, the stock delisted by the American Stock Exchange—and Ion will be a private company.
Ion still has public bonds, though. With its improved balance sheet, Ion said in an SEC filing Friday that it has notified the trustee for its 405 million in floating rate second priority senior secured notes due 2013 that it has elected to pay interest entirely in cash (rather than additional notes) for the interst period commencing on January 15th and ending on April 14th.
