Tribune Publishing's No.2 shareholder pushes for sale

The second-largest shareholder of Los Angeles Times owner Tribune Publishing said Wednesday that passing up a buyout offer from rival publishing company Gannett could "destroy enormous shareholder value." In a letter sent to Tribune's board and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, downtown L.A. investment firm Oaktree Capital Management made clear it wants the board to reconsider selling to Gannett and raised serious concerns about the turnaround plans of new Tribune Chairman Michael Ferro. The board this month rejected an offer of 12.25 a share from Gannett, which responded this week by raising that offer to 15 a share. That's a 99% premium to Tribune Publishing's stock price before Gannett went public with its proposal last month. Oaktree, which owns 14.8% of Tribune Publishing's shares, this month urged the company's board to negotiate with Gannett.