NEW YORK (AFP) - Hollinger International Inc said that it has struck a deal to sell the Jerusalem Post and a sister publication to the Israeli publisher, Mirkaei Tikshoret Ltd, for 13.2 million dollars in cash.
The deal is expected to close in mid-December 2004, subject to the approval of anti-trust regulators, Hollinger said in a statement.
The sale of the Post and The Jerusalem Report magazine follows the divestment of Hollinger International's UK titles this summer and marks the continued unraveling of the media group following a boardroom scandal that broke out late last year.
The Chicago-based group sold its most precious property, Britain's Telegraph newspaper group, to the reclusive Barclay Brothers for 1.2 billion dollars in July.
It had earlier put its top US property, the Chicago Sun-Times, on the block, but pulled it off the market after the tabloid became embroiled in a scandal over inflated circulation figures.
Tuesday's move leaves the media group created by Conrad Black, the Canadian media-baron-turned-British-peer, with the Chicago tabloid and a handful of community newspapers in the Chicago area and in Canada.
Black, meanwhile, has been forced to watch the disintegration of his newspaper empire from the sidelines, following his ouster as chief executive in November 2003.
Both he and his top deputy, David Radler, were forced out after an internal investigation found evidence that the two men had improperly pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars that should have gone to the company.
The board ultimately sued Black and Radler for close to 400 million dollars -- the amount its investigators contend the two men siphoned off through schemes designed to enrich themselves at the expense of stockholders.
Black and Radler face similar claims in a host of lawsuits filed by shareholders.
The two men have denied any wrongdoing and are contesting the suits, but their legal woes increased this week when the US Securities and Exchange Commision filed civil fraud charges against them.
And the SEC, in addition to seeking the return of some 85 million dollars in "ill-gotten" gains, also asked the court to put Black's shares in Hollinger International in a trust, to be overseen by an independent, third-party.
Black remains the controlling stockholder in Hollinger International through a complicated ownership structure, but has been barred from exercising his voting rights by an injunction that remains in effect through January 31.
11/16/2004 - 19:31 GMT - AFP