Sun-Times owner to buy Reader

Wrapports LLC, the parent company of the Chicago Sun-Times, said Wednesday it has agreed to purchase the Chicago Reader.

Terms of the deal were not announced. However, Crain’s Chicago Business reported the deal was possibly $3 million.

Alison Draper, publisher of the alternative newsweekly, will leave in late June and Editor Mara Shalhoup will remain. No other changes in the staff are planned, the company said.

The Reader staff might be moved from 11 E. Illinois to the Sun-Times’ offices at 350 N. Orleans, the company said.

Creative Loafing Inc., which sold the Reader, went through bankruptcy in 2009. As a result, it was wholly owned by its largest creditor, Atalaya Capital Management LP. Creative Loafing continues to own alternative weeklies and related websites in Atlanta and Washington D.C.

Founding in 1971, the Reader distributes 90,000 free print copies weekly and operates chicagoreader.com. The founding owners sold the Reader to Creative Loafing in 2007, according to the Reader’s web site.

Besides the Chicago Sun-Times, Wrapports’ holdings include the Beacon-News (Aurora), The Courier-News (Elgin), The Herald-News (Joliet), Lake County News-Sun (Gurnee), Post-Tribune (Merrillville, Ind.) and the SouthtownStar (Chicago Heights).