MONTREAL - The head of Quebecor Inc. says he'll be keeping a keen eye on the legal proceedings involving Canwest Global Communications' insolvent newspaper division.
"We'll be watching the proceedings,'' Pierre Karl Peladeau told The Canadian Press Sunday at the centenary celebrations for independent Montreal newspaper Le Devoir.
"We'll see if there are people, institutions, who are interested and we'll determine eventually where we go from there,'' Peladeau added.
He noted the news of Canwest's bankruptcy protection filing was still too fresh for decisions to be made but wouldn't shut the door on the possibility of snapping up a new daily.
Canwest owns a number of major dailies, including the Montreal Gazette.
Insolvent
On Friday, the Winnipeg-based publisher filed for protection from creditors and instigated the sale process for its newspaper division, which includes 10 metropolitan dailies.
Peladeau said the development didn't come as a surprise but may be of interest to his company, noting the Big Five Canadian banks agreed to make what's considered a "stalking-horse'' bid setting the base price for an auction that could fetch more than $1 billion.
"We already have newspapers in a number of their cities - Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa - so it's undeniable there are issues concerning competition,'' Peladeau said.
Profile
Quebecor is one of Canada's largest media companies. Its newspaper holdings include Sun Media Corporation, Canada's largest chain of tabloids and community newspapers, which includes Le Journal de Montreal, the Ottawa Sun and the Toronto Sun. The corporation also owns a number of free daily papers and alternative and community publications and new media holdings such as canoe.ca. It also owns the TVA group, the largest French language TV network in North America.
