TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's largest publisher circulation has sold its headquarters building on the outskirts of Toronto for C$24 million (US$23.3 million) to pay back debt.
Postmedia Network Canada Corp <PNCa.TO> will sell the building to Rose & Thistle Group Ltd in a deal expected to close September 28. The publisher may terminate the agreement if it fails to find a new home within a month.
The building is currently home to Postmedia's corporate headquarters and the National Post newspaper. The company also publishes regional titles, including the Edmonton Journal, the Ottawa Citizen and the Calgary Herald.
It has stopped printing Sunday editions of the papers to save money, while it will expand a summer hiatus on Monday editions of the National Post for a fourth straight year.
Postmedia, created in July 2010 to buy the newspaper assets of bankrupt media company Canwest, is trying to reshape its papers for the digital age and to increase revenues from its websites, smartphone and tablet computer applications, and other services.
It is rolling out a metered subscription service for online content at the Ottawa Citizen and Vancouver Sun after running a pay wall trial at the Montreal Gazette.
The company lost C$11.1 million in its second quarter and revenue slipped 8 percent in a tough advertising market.
<p />
(Reporting Alastair Sharp in Toronto; editing Jeffrey Benkoe)