Transcontinental group completed the largest transaction in its history, the purchase of CanWest Global Communications’ 12 community newspapers and 32 related publications in the four Canadian Atlantic provinces and Saskatchewan.

Transcontinental also acquired Gesca’s three commercial printing plants: Imprimerie Canada, Qualimax and TR Offset. Included in the deal is a 15-year contract to print the daily newspapers Le Soleil, Le Droit and Le Nouvelliste. The company is the largest independent printer of newspapers in Canada.

Ten of the 12 community newspapers in the company’s CanWest acquisition are dailies; eight are located in the Atlantic provinces and two are in Saskatchewan. Two of the publications are weeklies.

Transcontinental also becomes the printer of the National Post for the Atlantic provinces, having also acquired printing operations in the area. These newspapers employ approximately 900 people, adding to Transcontinental’s nearly 12,000 employees across Canada, the United States and Mexico.

The dailies acquired in the CanWest deal include the St. John’s Telegram and the Western Star in Newfoundland; the Halifax Daily News, the Cap Breton Post, the Evening News and the Truro Daily News in Nova Scotia; the Charlottetown Guardian and the Journal Pioneer in Prince Edward Island; the Prince Albert Daily Herald and the Moose Jaw Times Herald in Saskatchewan.

Weeklies included in the deal are the Northern Light in New Brunswick and the Southwest Booster in Saskatchewan.

Commercial printing facilities Ad Venture and Williams & Crue are also included in the deal.

With the completion of the CanWest transaction, Transcontinental will own 79 community newspapers, 10 of which are dailies, spread amongst eight provinces, as well as 83 other publications.

“Combined with the 62 papers we publish already, mainly in Quebec, the eight titles in the Atlantic provinces will make us the leading community newspaper publisher and flyer distributor in Eastern Canada. Similarly, adding the Saskatchewan newspapers to the ones we now publish in Manitoba will increase our presence in the prairies,” said André Préfontaine, president of Transcontinental media, Transcontinental Group’s publishing and distribution subsidiary.

“We are very pleased to warmly welcome the employees of these 12 newspapers and two commercial printing facilities to the Transcontinental family,” Préfontaine said. “Our new colleagues will soon see that we share many things in common that are reflected in the quality of the content, the superior services for advertisers and the newspaper’s commitment to the community.”