Biggest debt holder for GateHouse Media is company that bought small papers from Rupert Murdoch Tuesday

The purchase of 23 newspapers by what was described as a Fortress Investment Group subsidiary makes more sense with today's news that Newcastle Investment is the company that bought the former Dow Jones newspapers from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

It was announced Tuesday that debt-ridden GateHouse Media, owner of the Carthage Press, Neosho Daily News, Pittsburg Morning Sun, and Big Nickel in the Joplin area would manage the 23 newspapers.

Today, the incestuous relationship between the Fortress companies was further unraveled when it was announced that $626 million of GateHouse Media's $1.2 billion debt is owed to Newcastle Investment and that the debt will be taken care of through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reorganization.

The following news release was issued today by Newcastle Investment:

Newcastle Investment Corp. (NYSE:NCT)(“Newcastle” or the “Company”) announced today that it has acquired Dow Jones Local Media Group (“Local Media Group”) from News Corp for $87 million. The Company made a total equity investment of $54 million, including transaction expenses, and financed the remainder of the purchase price with $33 million of debt.

Local Media Group operates 33 local publications, including 8 daily and 15 weekly newspapers, in 7 states. Many of these publications have been providing vital local content to their communities for over 75 years.

The Local Media Group operations will be managed by GateHouse Media, Inc. (“GateHouse”), one of the largest publishers of locally based print and online media in the United States with a portfolio of products that includes over 400 community publications and approximately 350 related websites. GateHouse is an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group, Newcastle’s manager.

Newcastle, which owns approximately 52% of GateHouse’s $1.2 billion of debt, also announced that it has entered into an agreement with other creditors related to a potential restructuring of GateHouse pursuant to a prepackaged plan of reorganization under chapter 11 of title 11 of the United States Code. Newcastle expects to convert its debt position into equity of GateHouse, and the other creditors will have the option to convert their positions into either equity or cash at a price of 40% of par.

Presentation and Conference Call

Further information regarding the Local Media Group acquisition and the restructuring of GateHouse will be provided in a presentation to be posted in the Investor Relations section of Newcastle’s website,www.newcastleinv.com.

In addition, the Company will host a conference call at 2:30 P.M. Eastern Time today to discuss these developments. All interested parties are welcome to participate on the live call. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 1-888-243-2046 (from within the U.S.) or 1-706-679-1533 (from outside of the U.S.) ten minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call; please reference “Newcastle Investor Update Conference Call.”

A telephonic replay of the conference call will also be available approximately two hours following the completion of the call through 11:59 P.M. Eastern Time on Wednesday, September 11, 2013 by dialing 1-855-859-2056 (from within the U.S.) or 1-404-537-3406 (from outside of the U.S.); please reference Conference ID “52659023”.