A €57 million bid has been lodged by Independent News & Media (IN&M) for the Northern Ireland titles of Trinity Mirror Group. But the News Letter is not among the titles it is seeking.
IN&M has linked up with British private equity firm Provident Capital for the bid. Yesterday was the deadline for bids to be lodged. Thomas Crosbie Holdings - owner of the Examiner - is understood to have lodged a bid for all the titles, including the News Letter.
IN&M has decided not to bid for the staunchly unionist News Letter as it is unlikely to be passed by competition authorities. This is because IN&M already owns the Belfast Telegraph.
Independent's acquisition of the Telegraph three years ago was passed only after Independent gave assurances that its editorial values would be respected. Several leading unionist politicians had raised concerns over this issue.
Trinity Mirror owns two newspaper groups in the North: Century Newspapers Ltd and the Derry Journal Group. Century comprises the News Letter and the Belfast News and Farming Life.
The Derry Journal Group consists of the Derry Journal, the Donegal Democrat, Letterkenny Listener and the Foyle News.
Provident is believed to be providing the financial backing, with IN&M contributing only a small amount of cash.
According to sources, the chances of the bid succeeding are slim as Trinity Mirror has made it clear it would like to sell the titles together. Asked to comment yesterday, IN&M simply said it did not comment on market rumours or speculation. The original report of its bid surfaced in the Guardian newspaper.
Several leading businessmen and politicians based in Northern Ireland are believed to be interested in the News Letter in particular, among them Ulster Unionist MP David Burnside. He is a former public relations officer with British Airways.
London-based private equity firm HgCapital has made a joint offer with Mr David Palmer, a former director at IN&M and associate of Sir Anthony O'Reilly.
Apart from IN&M, several other companies are reported to be interested. Archant, the privately-owned publisher which had a large share in the now defunct Dublin Evening newspaper, is believed to be interested, as is Scottish Radio Holdings, which owns newspapers in Northern Ireland and the Republic.
