The private equity fund that financed SaltWire’s purchase of most newspapers in Atlantic Canada is moving to dissolve the company.

In documents filed with the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia Monday, Fiera Private Debt Fund (FPD) says that SaltWire owes it more than $32 million.

Moreover, says the filing, SaltWire owes more than $2.6 million in pension payments and “over $7 million in outstanding HST payments (prior to accounting for any available tax refunds).”

An emergency court hearing has been set before Justice John Keith for Wednesday at 2pm.

As the Halifax Examiner has reported, in February Supreme Court of Nova Scotia Justice Scott Norton upheld a $2,656,656 order against Halifax Herald Ltd. a wholly owned subsidiary of SaltWire. That ruling was related to unpaid pension top-ups required by the Superintendent of Pensions.

And last week (as reported here), Supreme Court of Nova Scotia Justice Gail Gatchalian ordered SaltWire to pay $500,000 in security for costs related to its lawsuit against Transcontinental Media.

Read Fiera’s filing here.

More coming.

Tim Bousquet is the editor and publisher of the Halifax Examiner. Twitter @Tim_Bousquet Mastodon

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4 Comments

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  1. I would miss the Chronicle Herald. I still read most of the first section and, of course, the obituaries. It goes good with breakfast. I would really miss the obituaries. I read the Examiner in the evenings. I would have to subscribe to another morning read if the Herald were to disappear. Did I mention I would really miss the obituaries?

  2. Reports say $90 million in debts. Do they own the printers and related land and building? Are they pledged or in a totaly separate company?

  3. I know they’ve been on shaky ground for a while now, but it still comes as a shock. It’s hard to imagine Prince Edward Island with out The Guardian, and The Journal..

  4. I posted a comment on the article last week about a tactic to forestall the inevitable. Not surprised that the inevitable took only another week. I am not sure, but I would not be surprised if The Chronicle Herald survives this. Not to mention the rest of Saltwire. Hopefully someone / some entity will scoup it off the scrap heap.