Two outside investors stake a claim in the financially ailing New Hampshire Union Leader

The financially ailing New Hampshire Union Leader has taken on two outside investors, according to an article that the paper published on Friday. The move coincides with the Union Leader’s closing on a $1 million loan to get out from under pension obligations.

The investors are Bob Singer, who lives in Manchester and is the former president of Merchants Auto, and Greg Wendt, a partner at Capital Group Companies in San Francisco. The amount of their investment was not disclosed. But the Union Leader account, by Jonathan Phelps, suggests that it will be enough to cover the $1 million loan — from the quasi-governmental New Hampshire Business Finance Authority, or BFA — and then some.

Please become a supporter of Media Nation for just $5 a month. You’ll receive a weekly newsletter with exclusive content, a roundup of the week’s posts, photography and music.

“Part of the investment is to match up with the million dollars from the BFA,” president and publisher Brendan McQuaid is quoted as saying. “Then there is some further investment, which is helping to recapitalize the company.”

According to a November report by New Hampshire Public Radio’s Todd Bookman, the loan requires the Union Leader to raise $1 million in private equity as well as $750,000 in cash, which will be held as collateral — which would appear to be where Singer and Wendt come in. The five-year loan comes with a 2% interest rates, which, as Bookman observes, “is far below the market rate.” Bookman’s account continues:

The newspaper will use the funds to pay down decades worth of pension obligations for both existing and now retired employees. Under the terms of the deal, none of the rank and file employees will see a reduction in benefits, while pension payouts for a handful of executives will be slashed by up to 65%.

In a written statement, the New Hampshire News Guild — a union representing approximately 40 of the paper’s journalists, ad sales representatives and circulation customer service employees — praised the approval of the loan.

“This deal appears to ensure that New Hampshire will continue to benefit from the award winning journalism, advertising and customer care that our members create on a daily basis,” the guild said.

The Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications, at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, owns two-thirds of the Union Leader, according to a recent account of the paper’s woes by Boston Globe media reporter Aidan Ryan. Phelps’ account suggested that arrangement will change at least to some extent:  “Under this ownership structure, the Loeb School, a nonprofit organization, joins Wendt and Singer as an additional minority shareholder of the Union Leader Corporation by converting some previous debt to equity.”

Singer has long been a presence on the New Hampshire scene. In 2023, he was the recipient of the  Davison Award for Philanthropy, administered by the Mary & John Elliot Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit that provides financial support for health-care needs in the southern part of the state and for Elliot Health System.

Singer is an occasional donor to political candidates as well, making small contributions to local politicians, most of them Democrats, according to the website Open Secrets. He’s made a few out-of-state donations as well, including $500 to then-presidential candidate Joe Biden in 2019 and $1,000 to Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno in 2021; Moreno defeated incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2024. Singer also gave $1,250 to Democrat Rufus Gifford in 2018 for his unsuccessful primary campaign against Massachusetts congresswoman Lori Trahan.

Wendt has no obvious ties to New Hampshire. According to his company bio, he’s an equity portfolio manager at Capital Group, where he’s worked for 36 years, and holds a Harvard MBA. He’s been active politically, too, mainly on behalf of mainstream Republican presidential candidates like John Kasich in 2016, giving $250,000, USA Today reported, and Tim Scott and Nikki Haley in 2024. Politico reported that Wendt had supported John McCain as well. According to Open Secrets, Wendt has also donated to a diverse range of political figures that includes Biden; incoming New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican; outgoing Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat-turned-independent; and Vice President-elect JD Vance.

The Union Leader, New Hampshire’s only statewide paper, holds a notorious place in the history of presidential politics, as its late owner and publisher, William Loeb, was infamous for his caustic criticism of any political figure who would dare cross him. In 2022 it was revealed that he had molested both his stepdaughter and his daughter when they were young children. In response to the revelations, the Union Leader removed his name from its masthead.

Under the leadership of his widow, the late Nackey Loeb, the Union Leader became tamer but no less right-wing. My Northeastern colleague Meg Heckman’s biography of Nackey Loeb, “Political Godmother,” describes her role in the rise of Ronald Reagan, as the Union Leader’s support in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary was crucial in Reagan’s rise from the fringes.

Now, with the New Hampshire primary’s status no longer a sure thing following the Democrats’ decision to lead with South Carolina in 2024, and with center of right-wing media having long since shifted to Fox News, the Union Leader is struggling.

According to Ryan’s story in the Globe, Sunday print circulation has fallen from about 85,000 in 1999 to 20,000 today; weekday circulation has dropped from 63,000 in 1999 to fewer than 16,000 in 2023. Paid digital circulation is barely a factor, Ryan added, and annual revenue has fallen from $50 million-plus to about $14 million in recent years.