There is a familiar name among the buyers of the Chicago Sun-Times. The newspaper and its affiliated publications are being sold in a buyout led by Michael Ferro Jr., CEO of Chicago-based Merrick Ventures.

Among the key backers of the bid, according to Time Out Chicago, is Joe Mansueto.

Mansueto is the founder of Morningstar and has purchased stakes in a number of publishers through Mansueto Ventures. Time Out Chicago is among the publications he owns.

The deal for the Sun-Times, 40 suburban dailies and weeklies and the affiliated Web sites is being valued at $20 million. This is the fifth time the paper has changed hands during the past 28 years.

The paper was last purchased by another tycoon from the asset management industry. Jim Tyree, CEO of Mesirow Financial, led a Chicago investor group that purchased the paper in 2009 for a reported $25 million. Tyree died in 2011. 

Edited by: Sean Hanna, Editor in Chief


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