Ownership of Sun-Times Media Holdings LLC is expanding to include technology entrepreneur Michael W. Ferro Jr. and media executive Timothy P. Knight, who are acquiring a majority interest in the Chicago-based publisher of seven dailies and 30 weeklies through a vehicle they call Wrapports LLC.

Although no price was given, STMH flagship the Chicago Sun-Times put it at more than $20 million.

Wrapports professes to be not just a newspaper holding company but a provider of "cutting-edge technologies" designed to deliver content to print, online and mobile audiences. Ferro, whose day job is chairman of private equity firm Merrick Ventures LLC, serves as Wrapports' chairman; Knight, a former publisher of Long Island's Newsday, serves as Wrapports' CEO.

New leadership at STMH settles succession issues caused by the death in March of former Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. chairman James Tyree, who in 2009 led a partnership that brought the publisher out of bankruptcy for $5 million in cash and the assumption of nearly $22 million in debt.

"The late Jim Tyree in particular set a bar that we are committed to reaching," Knight said in a statement released late Wednesday, Dec. 21. "We plan to fulfill Jim's goal of building a world-class digital content company, and we look forward to carrying on his remarkable legacy."

Other significant investors in Wrapports include Madison Dearborn Partners LLC chairman John Canning Jr.; mutual fund manager David Herro; Morningstar Inc. chairman Joe Mansueto; GTCR LLC principal Bruce Rauner; and William "Beau" Wrigley Jr. Current STMH investors Richard Price and W. Rockwell Wirtz are also in the new ownership group.

The Sun-Times reported that current STMH chairman and chief executive Jeremy L. Halbreich announced in a memo to staff Wednesday that he would exit the company. And in Wrapports' statement on the deal, which is expected to close before the New Year, Halbreich expressed confidence that "the extraordinary talent in the newsroom coupled with the new leadership's inspired commitment will bring Sun-Times Media to the next level."

The Chicago daily also explained the thinking behind the name of STMH's new owner: "a mix of old media -- the 'wrapping' of a newspaper -- with the rapport promised by new technology."

The transaction encompasses all STMH properties, including the Post-Tribune (Merrillville, Ind.), the SouthtownStar (Tinley Park, Ill.), The Herald-News (Joliet), The Beacon-News (Aurora, Ill.), the Lake County News-Sun, the Naperville Sun, The Courier-News (Elgin, Ill.), The Pioneer Press newspapers, The Doings and Neighborhood Star publications. It also brings new ownership to such online enterprises as RogerEbert.com, ToDrive.com and YourSeason.com.