MediaNews subsidiary Lowell Publishing to acquire Massachusetts' The Gardner News, publisher of local newspaper The Gardner News; deal to close in Q3

Kendall Sinclair

GARDNER, Massachusetts , June 22, 2011 (press release) – The Gardner News, Incorporated, publisher of The Gardner News, has agreed to be acquired by Lowell Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Denver-based MediaNews Group, Inc. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011.

Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a newspaper merger and acquisition firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico, represented The Gardner News, Incorporated in the transaction. Terms were not disclosed.

The Gardner News, Incorporated publishes The Gardner News, a daily newspaper with distribution in Gardner, Westminster, Winchendon, Templeton, Hubbardston, and Athol, Massachusetts; Rindge, New Hampshire; and other communities in central Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.

The announcement was made today by Alberta Saffel Bell, publisher of The Gardner News, and by Mark O’Neil, president and publisher of Lowell Publishing Company.

“The Gardner News has been a vital part of Gardner and the surrounding communities for over 140 years,” said Bell, adding, “Our company is an active part of community life. The Hubbard and Bell families have owned The Gardner News since 1921. Now The Gardner News will be joining a larger regional newspaper-publishing firm. We look forward to great things for our newspaper and for the communities we serve as The Gardner News joins Lowell Publishing.”

“We have been fortunate to have wonderful relationships with our readers, employees, advertisers, and many other friends,” Bell said. “And we have made a strong contribution to the quality of life in the communities we serve. We are grateful for the support of the newspaper’s employees, readers and advertisers through the years.”

The Gardner News traces its beginnings to a newspaper started in 1868 by A.G. Bushnell.

“Lowell Publishing and MediaNews Group are excited to add an outstanding community newspaper to our family of publications,” said O’Neil. “We are right next door with The Sentinel and Enterprise, our Nashoba community weekly papers, The Public Spirit, the Pepperell Free Press, Groton Landmark, Harvard Hillside, Shirley Oracle, Townsend Times, and Nashoba Chronicle, as well as The Sun of Greater Lowell and other publications and digital and mobile sites and products. We are pleased to be able to expand our portfolio with this wonderful community newspaper.”

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