New Brunswick newspaper, oil and lumber family, the Irvings, have acquired five community newspapers in New Brunswick from Henley Publishing.
Brunswick News, an Irving company, has reached an agreement to purchase The Bugle in Woodstock, Le Cataracte in Grand Falls, the Northside News in Fredericton, Victoria County Record in Perth-Andover and Valley Weekend. All five papers employ a total of 53 people.
ÔÇ£We look forward to building upon the Henley tradition of quality reporting and community coverage,ÔÇØ said Victor Mlodecki, Brunswick News spokesperson and interim publisher of the papers, in a release. ÔÇ£It will be business as usual as we begin the transition process with meetings with the employees.
ÔÇ£These community newspapers are an excellent fit with our existing newspaper operation in New Brunswick. We see very positive synergies between these weekly publications and our daily newspapers ÔÇô both operationally and in terms of expanded community coverage for readers. Readers of our daily newspapers will benefit from the expanded news from the communities covered by these weekly papers,ÔÇØ he said.
Henley Publishing Limited President and publisher David Henley said he will continue to operate business interest in the Woodstock area.
ÔÇØWe worked hard to build our business and as a family have decided to sell the operation to a willing buyer,ÔÇØ explained Henley. ÔÇ£We appreciate the great support we have received from the communities we serve and the dedicated employees who have worked with our family over the past 26 years. We are confident that the papers will continue to thrive under the new owners. As a family, we will focus our efforts on PrintXpress, our business in Woodstock, as well as the weekly papers that we own in the State of Maine.ÔÇØ
The sale was completed on Nov. 14, 2002.