[A-List] Conrad Black

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Black set to loosen grip on Hollinger
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner
Financial Times; Jun 27, 2003

Conrad Black, chief executive of Hollinger, yesterday said he was prepared
to loosen, but not give up, control of the newspaper publisher as part an
agreement he is negotiating with the company's largest institutional
investor.

Lord Black said that a month-old agreement to sell between 5m and 10m shares
in Southeastern Asset Management was on track, but that terms Hollinger had
"envisioned" were now getting "more difficult".

The original terms involved the gradual eradication of a two-tier share
structure that allows Lord Black to effectively hold a 73 per cent
controlling stake in the group, though he holds only 30 per cent of the
stock.

Lord Black also hit out at critics who said the deal would be impossible to
complete because the shares in question were also held as collateral by
bondholders of Hollinger Incorporated, Hollinger's parent company.

He said the group was weighing different options to get around the issue,
including a possible equity issue of Hollinger Incorporated stock.

An equity issue could retire up to 35 per cent of the group's recently
issued debt, freeing up more than $100m in stock, Lord Black said.