Hoiles family member 'devastated' by Freedom bankruptcy
Robin Hardie, a Colorado Springs resident and member of the founding family that still controls Freedom Communications Inc., said she is “devastated to be part of a generation that put the company into Chapter 11.”
Hardie, 39, is one of four Hoiles family members on Freedom’s board of directors that approved seeking U.S. Bankruptcy Court protection for the company from its creditors Tuesday.
Hardie has worked for The Gazette, Freedom’s national advertising sales office in the Springs, a television station in Texas as well as other newspapers in Arizona, California and Texas. She agreed to a telephone interview Wednesday about Freedom’s bankruptcy and her role in structuring a 2004 buyout of dissident family members by selling 40 percent of the company to The Blackstone Group and Providence Equity Partners and borrowing $1 billion from the lender group.
Question: How do you feel about the bankruptcy filing?
Answer: Understandably, I feel awful. It has been a difficult week. To be the generation that puts the company into Chapter 11 is devastating. The ability to keep some ownership and be able to buy back more (up to 10 percent) is a small comfort considering shareholders have been wiped out in other media company reorganizations. It doesn’t mean a whole lot because this makes us token shareholders.
Q: Do you have any regrets about how the 2004 transaction was structured?
A: I still believe it was the right thing to do. We bought out the dissidents at a fair, if not generous, price. We had to borrow the money because more than a majority of shareholders wanted to sell their shares, yet we wanted to retain control and Blackstone and Providence were only willing to put up so much. Blackstone and Providence increased their ownership since then by taking some of their dividends in stock. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this and I wouldn’t say we made a poor financial decision. The (2004 transaction) wasn’t about money. We were trying to keep the vision and values of the company alive and keep the company and its culture alive for the thousands of associates who worked long and hard for the company. Freedom’s success was due to the associates.
Q: Are there decisions you believe the board should have been made differently that might have avoided the bankruptcy filing?
A: Of course, things could have been done differently, but I don’t dwell on it. This is how it worked out. We had a long history as a family in this company and its vision. Perhaps we could have handled the dissidents differently and done the buyout earlier, but that is in the past. I believe the board made the best decisions, given the information they had at the time.
Q: What do you expect will happen to Freedom and its holdings once the lender group takes control?
A: The banks will own the company and likely will not want to be in the media business and will look for an opportunity to divest themselves. I don’t think there will be any closures.
Q: What are your plans once the new owners appoint a new board?
A: I don’t know what the next phase of my life holds, but (Hardie and her husband, Ron Bollenberghe) plan to stay in this community. We really do like it here. I plan to continue the work I do in the nonprofit world and I have started a jewelry business called Meritage Art Glass as part of an effort to turn a hobby into a business. I also plan to do some consulting work on family governance issues.
