Transcontinental selling 93 newspapers in Ontario and Quebec

Publisher Transcontinental Inc. said Tuesday it is putting its 93local and regional newspapersin Quebec and Ontario up for sale.

Montreal-based Transcontinentalsaid the list of publications on the block includes theMtroMontreal newspaper. The vast majority of the publications are based in Quebec.The Seaway News, which is based in Cornwall, is the only Ontario title included in the sale.

The company said the sale process willspan several months, and will be managed by mergersand acquisitions experts at RaymondChabotGrantThornton.

• Star News Publishing buys 13 newspapers across Saskatchewan
• Chronicle Herald buys all Atlantic Canadian Transcontinental papers

With the the sale of its media assets in Saskatchewan in 2016 and its properties in Atlantic Canada last week, the company also undertook a strategic review of its local newspaper publishing activities in Quebec and Ontario, Franois Olivier, the company's president and chief executive officer, said in a release.

"As a result of this analysis conducted over the past few months, we have decided to put TC Media's local and regional newspapers up for sale," Olivier said.

"We are convinced that selling these assets to local players is the best course of action in order to contribute to the continued sustainability of local media and to foster greater connections with the advertisers and communities they serve," he said.

Transcontinental said it plans to remain engaged in the newspaper business. The company plans to strike deals with potential buyers for the printing and distribution of the newspapers. It said it will also continue to publish newspapers that may remain unsold.

Transcontinental's move comes the week after it sold all of itsnews outlets in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, P.E.I., and Newfoundland and Labrador to SaltWire Network Inc., a newly created media group that publishes the Chronicle Herald in Halifax.