OPI’s Big Island newspapers may go up for sale, as owner undergoes restructuring

Black Press – the owner of O‘ahu Publications, Inc. (OPI) – is to be restructured under court supervision, in order to reduce debt and set the company up for a potential sale.

OPI owns newspapers throughout the Hawaiian Islands, including MidWeek, The Garden Island Newspaper on Kaua‘i, and West Hawai‘i Today and The Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald on the Big Island. OPI’s flagship publication is the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

As part of its restructuring, Black Press has entered into a support agreement with Canadian institutional investors Canso Investment Counsel Ltd. and Deans Knight Capital Management Ltd., along with Carpenter Newsmedia LLC.

The court-supervised process includes a potential sale of the Black Press companies, including OPI, to existing debt holders of Black Press — Canso and Deans Knight — as well as to Carpenter. The proposed sale would include a capital injection from the potential new ownership group, allowing the media entities under Black Press (like OPI) to continue operating.

In anticipation of the restructuring, OPI will continue operations across its portfolio.

Any sale resulting from the restructuring is expected to be completed by March 15 of this year.