Sale of Reading Eagle approved by court

The sale of the 37,000-circulation Reading (Penn.) Eagle to MediaNews Group has been approved by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Pennsylvania.

Dirks, Van Essen, Murray & April, a media merger and acquisition firm based in Santa Fe, N.M., is representing Reading Eagle Company.

MediaNews Group owns a number of newspapers in the region, including the Pottstown Mercury, the Daily Times in Delaware County, the West Chester Daily Local News and the Norristown Times Herald, among others.

The Reading Eagle has been owned by the same family since it was founded in 1868.

In 2009, the family completed a significant expansion to the company's downtown presence with the opening of a 77,000-square-foot addition to the Eagle's headquarters at 345 Penn Street. The facility was built to house a new press and consolidated distribution center.

The Reading Eagle, with Sunday circulation 51,000, serves the greater Berks County market in the southeastern region of the state. The company's weekly South Schuylkill News is published in Schuylkill County, just north of Berks County. Reading is located about halfway between Philadelphia, the state's most populous city, and Harrisburg, the state capital.

The transaction is expected to close this summer.