Judge backs Lee Enterprises rejection of hedge fund nominees

By JOSH FUNK
AP Business Writer

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Lee Enterprises’ effort to repel a hostile takeover got a boost this week when a judge ruled the newspaper publisher could ignore two director nominations from the Alden Global Capital hedge fund. But Alden said it will press the fight by urging shareholders to vote against Lee’s Chairman Mary Junck and one other longstanding board member at the company’s March 10 annual meeting. Late last year, Lee rejected Alden’s $24 per share offer to buy the company because it said the roughly $141 million bid “grossly undervalues” the publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Tulsa World, Richmond Times-Dispatch and dozens of other newspapers.