The British government cleared Independent News & Media's £300 million sterling (€479 million) acquisition of the Belfast Telegraph Group of newspapers from Trinity Mirror plc yesterday without imposing any conditions on the deal.
The sale of the Belfast Telegraph titles - which include the Belfast Telegraph, Sunday Life, Farm Trader and Community Telegraph - follows Independent News & Media's successful bid for the group in March.
The acquired titles will become part of the Independent Group's UK rather than Republic-based operations when the deal is closed this week.
The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, already approved the acquisition.
Mr Brendan Hopkins, chief executive officer of Independent News & Media in the UK, said the Northern marketplace was diverse and distinct but had more links to London than Dublin.
The sale to a Republic-based media organisation provoked strong resistance from unionist politicians who feared it would impact on the Belfast Telegraph's editorial policy.
However, Mr Stephen Byers, British Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, yesterday said he accepted the unanimous conclusion of a Competition Commission report that the takeover would not operate against the public interest.
He said this report found no evidence to doubt the commitment to maintain editorial freedom and there were strong commercial reasons why Independent News & Media would wish to pursue a policy of editorial independence.
The commission also found minimal competition between newspapers North and South in terms of circulation and advertising.
During its inquiry the Competition Commission held out the possibility that it would ask Independent News & Media to consider "possible remedies" such as divesting either the Sunday Life or Sunday World to alleviate competition concerns. However, no conditions or undertakings were imposed on the deal.
Mr Hopkins said profit forecasts for the Belfast Telegraph Group were ahead of plans for the year and would enhance earnings in the present financial year. The group also disclosed that the £300 million price tag did not include indebtedness of some £4.6 million attributable to financial leases to be assumed on completion of the deal.
He said the group were was looking forward to meeting all of the staff and sharing "exciting plans" for the future. These involved introducing new products and a possible expansion of the Saturday edition of the Community Telegraph.
He said there were no immediate plans to introduce a morning-paper in Northern Ireland or make sweeping changes but the group would seek to add value.
Mr Hopkins said the titles would continue to be published in Belfast and there was no threat of them being moved to the Dublin printing plant due for completion later this year.
The Belfast acquisition will boost Independent News & Media's concentration of ownership in Northern Ireland to 28.5 per cent from 3.4 per cent. It will now have a 37.4 per cent share of Sunday papers, according to Commission figures.
These figures are boosted by the lucrative Belfast Telegraph title, which has circulation figures of just under 120,000 and readership figures of some 387,000. Last year it made some £22 million profit.
Trinity Mirror's share of the market will be reduced to 22.5 per cent from its current level of 47.6 per cent which resulted from Trinity's merger with the Mirror Group in 1999. The disposal of the Belfast Telegraph Group was made a condition of this merger.
