Independent’s sale of London titles hits delay

THE proposed sale of 27 local newspapers in the London region by Tony O’Reilly’s Independent News & Media (INM) faces further scrutiny before being allowed to proceed, Britain’s competition watchdog said yesterday.

The Competition Commission published a list of issues to examine before allowing INM to complete the sale to British media group Archant.

INM first announced details of the €90 million sale in December. It had previously failed to sell the titles earlier in 2003 after objections from the Competition Commission. The commission ruled at the time that Newsquest, a British media group that had been lined up to buy the titles from INM, would not be allowed to take control of all of the newspapers concerned.