The Tribune Co., owner of The Morning Call of Allentown and a number of well-known newspapers across the country, including the Chicago Tribune, has been sold to Alden Global Capital, which had already owned 31% of the company.

The deal is said to be worth about $630 million. The shareholders were offered $17.50 a share, a significant premium over the stock’s presale announcement value.

The deal is expected to close no later than the end of June, according to company officials. When it does, the company will move from public to private ownership. Alden has an unsavory reputation in the newspaper business for being an aggressive cost-cutting company that squeezes every penny of profit from its struggling businesses.

In a statement, Alden’s President Heath Freeman said that this move “reaffirms our commitment to the newspaper industry and our focus on getting publications to a place where they can operate sustainably over the long term.”

Announcement of the sale came as a major disappointment to the members of the newspaper guilds at the individual papers, which were hoping for a last-minute rescue by a major hotel owner who had announced several months ago that he would top Alden’s bid.

Stewart Bainum Jr., chairman of Choice Hotels, had stepped up to make a $680 million counteroffer. Bainum’s plan was to keep the Baltimore Sun and sell off the other properties to owners who would save these properties from the destructive Alden cost-slashing playbook.

He said he had buyers lined up for all of the properties with the exception of the Chicago Tribune. He did not disclose whom he had waiting in the wings to buy The Morning Call if his offer was successful.

The Tribune board, which includes at least three members who are allied with Alden, was having none of Bainum’s counteroffer, however, and left him sitting on the sidelines, at least for the moment. Bainum still wants the Baltimore Sun, but if Alden doesn’t sell, he plans to commit millions toward a digital news startup to compete with the Sun.

Despite the sale, former investment banker Gary Lutin of New York City still has his eye on buying The Morning Call in the event Alden wants to sell off individual properties. He has already submitted a bid of between $30 million and $40 million, but Alden has not commented on whether there is any interest.

There have been other unconfirmed reports of local efforts underway to try to raise the necessary cash to buy The Morning Call. Tony Ianelli, president and CEO of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, said he would “love” to see The Morning Call locally owned and says this continues to be his hope, although he realizes that this is a long shot.

The guilds of most of the Tribune papers, including The Morning Call’s, signed on to this statement after the sale: “Tribune Publishing shareholders voted to put profit and greed over local news. While we are saddened by the turn of events, we know that our work to build allies in the community and to raise awareness about Alden is not in vain. Those allies will support us as we fight against Alden to protect local news and the cuts that they will inevitably try to make.”

Alden is the second-largest newspaper group in the United States, next only to Gannett. Through its operating company, MediaNews Group, Alden owns about 200 publications, including The Denver Post, The (San Jose) Mercury News, The Orange County Register and The Boston Herald.

MediaNews already owns several publications in Pennsylvania - the Reading Eagle and seven other dailies. Journalists who have worked at these publications warned about the hedge fund’s track record of steep cuts, consolidations and sale of real estate assets.

In one six-year period, according to the NewsGuild union, Alden cut staff at guild-represented papers by an average of 75%.

In addition to The Morning Call, Baltimore Sun and Chicago Tribune, the Tribune company owns the Capital Gazette in Maryland; the Hartford Courant in Connecticut; the New York Daily News; the Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel in Florida; and the Daily Press and The Virginian-Pilot in Virginia.