The Honolulu Star-Advertiser and dozens of “sister” newspapers owned by the Canadian publisher, Black Press, will be taken over by the end of this week by a group of lenders after the newspaper chain failed to receive any other offers.

Thanks to Civil Beat’s Sunshine Blog for pointing to the latest news on the Black Press liquidation by Post Alley/Seattle.

Post Alley came up with several scoops, and I highly recommend checking out the full story using the link above.

First, no other offers were submitted while the whole newspaper chain was open to bidders, so the newspapers will be turned over to a lender group in a deal expected to close this Friday, March 22.

Second, it appears there’s no pot of gold at the end of this long tunnel for longtime publisher David Black.

In the end, it appears the family owners of Black Press Ltd. will walk away from the newspaper business debt-free but with little else to show for the nearly five decades that founder David Black spent building the company through steady acquisition of publications north and south of the border.

Third, there was some good and bad news for the Black newspapers recently.

The good news (for the company, at least) is that the Federal Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, which backstops insolvent corporate pension funds, settled a $45 million debt owed following Black’s sale of the Akron Beacon Journal, taking just 5 cents on the dollar owed. The $45 debt was settled for a $2 million payment, Post Alley reported.

And then the amazingly bad news. While the Star-Advertiser and other Black newspapers were circling the drain, the Hawaii properties were hit by a ransomware attack which froze their financial systems. So while the Black Press newspapers, including the Star-Advertiser, were able to be printed, the newspaper was unable to invoice advertisers or subscribers.

Civil Beat’s Sunshine Blog dug down into the story and provided additional details via a recent bankruptcy court filing.

The company was able to bargain the initial $4 million demand down to just $150,000, Civil Beat reported. So perhaps it should be seen as on the “good” side of the ledger after all.

In any case, it remains to be seen what will happen to the Star-Advertiser when it becomes a far-flung piece of the Carpenter Media chain.