Foster Family Sells Laconia (NH) Citizen to Eagle Printing & Publishing, LLCBack to News

LACONIA, NH, June 22, 2010 – Patrice D. Foster, president and publisher of George J. Foster Co., Inc., announced today the sale of Citizen Publishing to Eagle Printing & Publishing, which has offices in Claremont, New Hampshire.

Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a newspaper merger-and-acquisition firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico, represented the Foster family in the transaction.

The Laconia Citizen and related website, Citizen.com, had been owned by the Foster family, which will continue to own and operate Foster’s Daily Democrat based in Dover, New Hampshire. The Fosters acquired the Laconia newspaper in 1991 from the family that had founded it in 1925.

Under the Foster’s stewardship the Citizen added a Sunday newspaper and was recognized with several prestigious news-editorial awards, including the “Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment Award.”

Ms. Foster said the sale is a bittersweet moment for her family. “We’ve considered it a privilege providing local news to Lakes Region residents and would like to think we have had a positive influence on the communities we have served. But now is the time to focus our energies and resources on our 138-year-old family paper, “Foster’s Daily Democrat” in the Seacoast area as well as “Fosters.com,” several weeklies, “Best Read Guide,” and “Eastern Marketing Services.”

Eagle Publishing is led by Scoop Sample. Sample publishes daily and weekly newspapers in Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont. “We are thrilled that Patty and the Foster family have chosen us to continue the tradition of superb local journalism they have provided to the Laconia market and are looking forward to participating in the continued growth of the Lakes Region,” commented Chris P. Miles, a partner in Eagle Printing and Publishing.

If you have further questions contact Dirks, Van Essen & Murray at 505-820-2700.