May 5 deadline for sale of Johnston Press titles

A NEW deadline of May 5 has been set for final bids for the Irish portfolio of titles currently owned by Edinburgh-based regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press.

Johnston has been looking to sell the 13 Irish titles, including the Limerick Leader and Kilkenny People, it bought via a e236 million investment in 2005, mainly through the acquisition of the Leinster Leader group.

Despite some speculation, there is apparently no clear front-runner in the race to land the titles but the highest bidder will likely get a six-week period of exclusivity to conduct full due diligence by the May date.

It had originally been hoped that the entire sale process would be wrapped up by the end of April.

It is known that John McStay, the former head of the Leinster Leader group and the man who brokered the sale of that group to Johnston in the first place, former Scottish Radio Holdings head Richard Findlay, and former Kilkenny People executives Joe Hayes and Eugene Magee are the three interested parties.

It is also currently felt that the 13 titles will be sold as a single entity, rather than individually, as had been anticipated just a couple of months ago.

Industry sources have also suggested that the asset could go for between e38m and e50m, when the titles may finally return to Irish ownership, if a deal is agreed, which is not at all certain.