Cherry Tree Advises BringMeTheNews on Sale of Local Digital News Operation to Pohlad Companies Subsidiary Northern Lights

Cherry Tree Advises BringMeTheNews on Sale of Local Digital News Operation to Pohlad Companies Subsidiary Northern Lights

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Cherry Tree & Associates investment bank announced today that it advised BringMeTheNews, LLC, on the sale of its Minnesota-based local digital and broadcast news curation operation to Northern Lights Broadcasting, a subsidiary of the Pohlad Companies.

The transaction closed July 31. The asset sale included BringMeTheNews' 24-hour digital news curation operation that generates a million-plus monthly online audience by monitoring all media and creating online distillations of news of interest to Minnesotans at www.bringmethenews.com. It also reaches 400,000 listeners a week via a 28-station radio network, one of Minnesota's largest by audience size.

BringMeTheNews has proven particularly successful at using social media, both in news curation and in audience-building.

"Cherry Tree was particularly adept at navigating the process, contributing greatly to development of the negotiation strategy and directly driving the process of the conversation with the buyers," said Rick Kupchella, chairman, president and founder of BringMeTheNews. "It felt good to have folks with their level of expertise at times volunteering to drive the bus."

"Cherry Tree's professionals added value throughout the process," said Simon Raper, BringMeTheNews chief financial officer. "They kept up the momentum and drove practical solutions to potential problems. They were professional throughout and fun to work with."

The buyer operates Go 96.3 Radio, an FM station that airs modern music and the Minnesota Twins baseball games. It also operates a music-centric web site. The addition of BringMeTheNews gives Northern Lights Broadcasting a much larger statewide voice in Minnesota's digital media ecosystem. Northern Lights and the Twins both are owned by the Pohlad Companies.

BringMeTheNews was founded in 2009 by Rick Kupchella, a longtime Twin Cities television journalist. The assets that were sold related only to the company's local Minnesota news operation and include the company name. Simultaneous with the transaction, Kupchella announced a name change for his company to PresentNation, consistent with its refocusing on national digital news curation for certain highly desirable market sectors, starting with health care.

Cherry Tree & Associates, LLC, is a private investment banking firm headquartered in Minneapolis and specializing in serving entrepreneurially-managed companies. Founded in 1980, the firm provides financial advisory services for buyers, sellers and companies seeking growth capital, and provides fairness opinions and other valuation services. More information is available at www.cherrytree.com.

BringMeTheNews' legal advisor for the transaction was Dan Young, co-chair of the Business Law Group at Lommen Abdo, P.A. (www.lommen.com). Northern Lights was represented by in-house legal counsel at the Pohlad Companies.

For more information:
Cherry Tree: Managing Partner Jim Dolan, 952.253.6012 or jdolan@cherrytree.com
PresentNation: President Rick Kupchella, 612.248.8741 or rick@bringmethenews.com
Northern Lights: David Heinsch, PadillaCRT, 612.455.1768 or david.heinsch@padillacrt.com



SOURCE Cherry Tree & Associates, LLC

Cherry Tree & Associates, LLC

Web Site: http://www.cherrytree.com


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