Membership Has its Privileges

Fellow Augusta National members James H Blanchard and William “Billy” Morris just consummated one hell of a deal. “Morris Publishing refinanced its debt under more favorable terms with CB&T, of Columbus, Georgia, a division of Synovus Bank.” What that means is CB&T of Columbus Georgia is cutting a check to the tune of sixty million dollars. James Blanchard retired as Chairman of the Board of Synovus in 2006. His son Billy was promoted to President of CB&T (a subsidiary of Synovus) in 2009. That is one hell of a vote of confidence from a bank in Columbus. Without many hard assets to tie up, it seems to insiders to be a signature loan of the highest order. What could go wrong?

From their SEC filing:

On July 11, 2012, Morris Publishing Group, LLC (“Morris Publishing”) elected to redeem all of the outstanding notes under the Indenture dated as of March 1, 2010 (the “New Notes”) among Morris Publishing and Morris Publishing Finance Co., a Georgia corporation (“Morris Finance” together, with Morris Publishing, the “Issuers”), the Guarantors signatory thereto, and Wilmington Trust, National Association (as successor by merger to Wilmington Trust FSB), as trustee (the “Trustee”). The redemption is an “Optional Redemption” (as defined in the Indenture) under Section 3.7 of the Indenture and Paragraph 5 of the Note. The material terms of the Optional Redemption are as follows:

• the Redemption Date is August 10, 2012;

• the principal amount of the New Notes to be redeemed is $57,231,110, constituting 100% of the outstanding New Notes; and

• the Redemption Price is $57,803,421, constituting 101% of the principal amount of the New Notes, plus $635,902 constituting the amount of accrued and unpaid interest on the New Notes through the redemption date, for a total payment of $58,439,324. The Issuers have mailed a Notice of Redemption to the holder record of the New Notes by first-class mail at its registered address, with a copy to the Trustee, in accordance with the Indenture. Accordingly, the due date of the New Notes has been accelerated to correspond with the Redemption Date. The Issuers have irrevocably deposited with the Trustee funds in an amount sufficient to redeem the New Notes in the amount of $58,439,324, and have irrevocably directed the Trustee to apply such funds to the payment of the Redemption Price on the Redemption Date.

Item 8.01 Other Events Morris Publishing has been a voluntary filer under Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Act”) as required by a covenant in the Indenture. After the Notice of Redemption and the deposit with the Trustee of the funds to make the Optional Redemption, the Indenture has been satisfied and discharged, except for certain limited provisions that survive. Accordingly, Morris Publishing’s obligations under the Indenture to file annual, quarterly and current reports have terminated and Morris Publishing will cease filing voluntary reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).You Might Also Like: