Conrad Black to Acquire Financial Post

Canadian newspaper publisher Conrad Black’s Southam Inc. plans to acquire the Financial Post from Sun Media Corp. of Toronto and give up four Ontario daily newspapers to gain a platform for its planned national paper. The acquisition would give Southam an audience base for the still-unnamed national Canadian paper it plans to launch in October. It also makes it probable that the new publication will make money from the start rather than cost Canada’s largest newspaper chain millions as an expensive start-up. Southam is acquiring 80% of Financial Post Co., whose main asset is the Financial Post. The Toronto-based daily generates annual revenue of about $50 million.