Parts of Tribune Co. report will be secret

Although the examiner for newspaper publisher Tribune Co. will file his report today on the $13.8 billion leveraged buyout in 2007 by Sam Zell, parts of the report won't be made public initially.

Kenneth N. Klee, the examiner, filed papers on July 23 in bankruptcy court explaining how some of the information and documents he obtained were received under confidentiality agreements not allowing the documents or parts of his report to be made public. Consequently, the entire unredacted report will only be given at first to the judge and immediate parties in the case.

The examiner scheduled an Aug. 9 hearing where he will ask the judge to make public disclosure of his report, except parts the judge believes are entitled to remain secret.

Klee said the entire report should be made public "as expeditiously as possible." To compose his report, Klee said he received 4.3 million pages of documents that were contained on 150 compact discs, without an index.

Klee's motion also asks the judge to discharge him and prevent third parties from giving him subpoenas to produce documents. Klee proposes that the documents he examined be given to a third party electronic depository where the information could be subject to subpoena under rules the bankruptcy judge would establish.

The Chapter 11 plan proposes to resolve the fraudulent transfer claims through a settlement opposed by some creditors. The judge said the underlying merits of the claims must be addressed at the confirmation hearing for approval of the plan. The confirmation hearing is currently scheduled to begin on Aug. 30.

The plan, filed in April, is opposed by holders of $3.6 billion in pre-bankruptcy debt who announced their opposition even before the settlement was formally disclosed. For details of the plan, the proposed settlement, and the parties' arguments, click here for the April 13 Bloomberg bankruptcy report.

Tribune is the second-largest newspaper publisher in the U.S. It listed $13 billion in debt for borrowed money and assets of $7.6 billion in the Chapter 11 reorganization begun in December 2008. It owns the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, six other newspapers and 23 television stations.

The case is In re Tribune Co., 08-13141, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District Delaware (Wilmington).