Conrad Black's former company Hollinger Inc. said Monday it has struck a deal to sell its shares of Costa Rican newspaper La Republica for $2 million US in cash.

The buyer of the paper is SRB CR Limitada.

The sale is expected to close in late May.

Hollinger was once the key to Black's media holdings. Hollinger holds 70.1 per cent of the voting shares and 19.7 of the equity in Sun-Times Media Group Inc., which used to be known as Hollinger International Inc.

Black, 62, is on trial in Chicago, charged along with three other former Hollinger executives with siphoning millions of dollars out of their company by selling off hundreds of newspapers across North America and pocketing payments from the purchases.