Godfrey lines up CanWest buyout: Globe and Mail

National Post CEO Paul Godfrey has lined up financial support for the purchase of daily newspapers owned by CanWest Global Communications Corp., The Globe and Mail reports. Mr. Godfrey, former CEO of Sun Media and the Toronto Blue Jays, has already succeeded in one media buyout and now has private equity backers willing to finance a management-led bid for the newspapers currently owned by his employer, sources say. The newspapers are expected to be put up for auction within the next two months, and could fetch $1-billion, as creditors take control of debt-heavy CanWest.

In 1996, Mr. Godfrey led a $411-million management buyout of what was then Toronto Sun Publishing Corp. The deal proved wildly successfu