Leinster Leader up for sale

The Leinster Leader newspaper group was put on the market last night immediately after acquiring the Tallaght Echo in a deal believed to be worth over €5 million.

Sources close to the Leinster Leader board said the group could fetch as much as €100 million, although other provincial media sources put its valuation in the €60-€70 million range. The group is chaired by insolvency practitioner John McStay, a major shareholder. Others involved in the business include solicitor Anthony Collins.

The sale process is understood to follow two unsolicited offers for the group, possibly from British-based venture capitalists. Some other Irish-based media companies are known to have taken a look at the Naas-based group in recent months.

The corporate finance division of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which is advising the Leinster Leader, has circulated an information memorandum. The sale is being presented as an opportunity for existing provincial newspaper publishers to consolidate their business or for entrants to establish a presence in the Irish market.

Provincial newspaper stables such as Celtic Media, Thomas Crosbie Holdings, Alpha and Independent News & Media are all likely to assess the business.

Yorkshire Post publisher Johnson Press, which is keen to enter the Irish market, is also likely to consider a bid. British private equity groups such as 3i, Apax Partners, Electra and HG Capital are also believed to be in the frame.

The valuations of regional newspapers are currently difficult to assess because Scottish Radio Holdings - an owner of several titles - may soon be taken over by UK media group Emap. If this happens its titles are expected to come on the market.

The Leinster stable comprises six titles - the Dundalk Democrat, Leinster Express, Leinster Leader, Limerick Leader, Limerick Chronicle and Offaly Express. With a weekly circulation of more than 80,000 papers, the group's geographic spread gives it access to the rapidly urbanising market in Dublin's hinterland.

The group's biggest transaction so far was the purchase for €20 million in 2002 of the Limerick Leader group. That valuation was eclipsed by the €30 million that Celtic Media, then known as Dunfermline Press, paid for the Meath Chronicle a year later.

The sole beneficiary of the sale of the Tallaght Echo is David Kennedy, the managing director of Tallaght Publishing Limited. He started the company in his front room and said yesterday: "I feel rather like a parent having watched the Echo grow from small beginnings to its present status over the last 25 years".

It is understood Mr Kennedy is leaving the business, although the staff are expected to remain. The Echo is published in two editions and is mainly circulated in south and west Dublin. It has an Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) sale of 11,952. The transaction is subject to the approval of the Competition Authority and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.