Tribune Publishing Co., the owner of the Los Angeles Times, yesterday offered $3 million to fund Freedom Communications Inc.’s bankruptcy case, setting the stage for a potential bidding war for the publisher of the Orange County Register involving the paper’s existing management and their larger rival to the north, the Wall Street Journal reported today. A lawyer for Tribune, a newspaper publisher that has made its own pass through bankruptcy in recent years, said that all it wants in exchange for the $3 million deposit is the right to bid during a sale process for the publisher of the Orange County Register or to be paid back if the assets are sold to someone else. The parties will return to court on Nov. 13 to consider several other matters, and potentially the offer from Tribune, which could eliminate financing offered by the Register’s lender, the hedge fund Silver Point Capital LP.
