Forbes Media, which went through a default and a jarring restructuring in 2009-10, is in the hunt to refinance a $50 million loan coming due in July.
None of the half-dozen banks that handled the restructuring want to be involved again, sources said.
The current refinancing is said to be shepherded by the PrinceRidge Group, a midsize New York investment bank.
In a 2006 deal, Elevation Partners, headed by U2 frontman Bono and Silicon Valley investor Roger McNamee, took a 45 percent stake in the company — and clearly the investment has not panned out the way investors had hoped.
Elevation paid $237.2 million in cash in August 2006, according to a report in rival Fortune last year.
A PrinceRidge spokesman declined to comment on the latest talks.
Mike Perlis, who last November became the first non-Forbes family member to land the CEO job since its founding, was also not commenting.
Forbes Media, which lost $19.7 million in 2009, had earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) of $10.7 million last year on total revenue of $125 million, sources said.
“As a private company, Forbes doesn’t comment on specific financial matters,” Perlis said. “All things are moving quite positively regarding performance and profitability, and we look forward to continued success in 2012 and beyond.”
The CEO said Forbes is “having no out-of-the-ordinary issues with our banking relationships.”
Generous boss
Rodale Books is releasing the book “Weight Loss Boss” by Weight Watchers CEO David Kirchhoff in May, and the once-overweight CEO’s wallet is a lot lighter as well.
He’s decided to donate the $100,000 advance that he snagged from Rodale — plus any royalties — to the charity Share Our Strength.
“I joke that I was too cheap to open my own wallet, so I wrote a book instead,” said the 6-foot, 3-inch Kirchhoff, who once topped the scales at 242 lbs. Today he weighs 203.
He was signed to the deal by Men’s Health Editorial Director David Zinczenko, who in last year’s Rodale shake-up was made general manager of the books group.
Kirchhoff said he had to change his eating habits as well as his exercise regimen. “You can’t lose weight without changing your eating habits, but you can’t keep it off without exercising.” He said he hits the gym for an hour to 90 minutes nearly every day.
The book grew out of a blog Kirchhoff wrote after he joined Weight Watchers and started to slim down.
“I say I wrote the book in two months, but I’ve been kind of writing it for three years,” he said.
Calling the Schatz
Avenue mag owner Tom Allon is slowly rebuilding his staff, which was hit by some high level defections to Jared Kushner’s new lifestyle magazine.
Allon is tapping Randi Schatz as president and publisher. Most recently she was in the digital world as chief revenue officer of Hitviews, but was also a publisher of Worth mag.
She replaces Julie Dannenberg, who defected with Editor-In-Chief Peter Davis and Creative Director Cricket Burns to launch Scene for Kushner, owner of Observer Media Group.
Jane Allon, wife of Tom, was brought back to be the editor of Avenue, and Michael Gross, author of “740 Park” and “Unreal Estate,” was recently hired to be the real estate columnist.
Philly dilly
The carpenters union in Philadelphia looks like it is as handy with a wrench as it is with a hammer.
Just as the hedge funds Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Alden Capital were accepting bids on the Philadelphia Media Network, owners of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, the union was crying foul.
The Metropolitan Regional Council of Carpenters lent pension money to public relations man Brian Tierney to buy the papers, but saw its loan converted into equity when the company was purchased out of bankruptcy by the hedge funds.
The funds, which paid $139 million, are now trying to unload the papers. Former Philadelphia mayor and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is heading up a group of Philadelphia business people looking to buy it.
Jeffrey Perelman, a Philadelphia investor who heads JEP Management, is bidding against Rendell’s group.
Perelman is being joined in the bidding war, one source said, by Nicholas Karabots, a wealthy Philly businessman who recently donated $10 million to the Franklin Institute.
The carpenters, who own an estimated 2 percent of the stock, are angry that the auction process has not let in more bidders, specifically 94-year-old Ray Perelman — who happens to be the bitterly estranged father of Jeffrey — and real estate developer Bart Blatstein.
Ron Perelman is also said to be involved in his father’s bid. Ray Perelman and Blatstein entered the process late and were barred by investment banker Evercore Partners from submitting a bid.
“We believe that the board is failing in its fiduciary duty to maximize value for all equity holders,” Edward Coryell, a union officer, said in a letter sent to the board.