Potential Buyers for the Herald and Bristol Press

DECD: 6 looking at papers

Monday, December 29, 2008 10:57 PM EST

By JACKIE MAJERUS
and STEVE COLLINS
Press staff

HARTFORD — There are at least six potential buyers eyeing The Bristol Press, The Herald of New Britain and 11 weeklies, according to state and municipal officials who met Monday to discuss the looming closure of the newspapers.

“We are guardedly optimistic” that a deal might be struck, said state Economic Development Commissioner Joan McDonald.

Five of the six are already talking to the broker hired by the Journal Register Co. to try to sell the Central Connecticut papers slated to close in mid-January unless a new owner takes over, the officials said.

The other possible buyer, an anonymous New York newspaper veteran, met earlier in the day with the mayors of Bristol and New Britain. Both mayors expressed hope he might snatch up both dailies.

“We are pretty optimistic that this might materialize,” said Mayor Timothy Stewart of New Britain. “The prospects are pretty good that somebody will save these local papers.”

State lawmakers and economic development officials said their role in helping to land a buyer for the troubled newspaper chain is pretty much over unless someone asks for their assistance. Instead, they said, buyers and the broker hired to sell the papers are talking.

“We’re stepping back,” McDonald said.

It remains murky, though, who might be interested at a time when newspapers are taking it on the chin across much of America.

At least one is another newspaper company that responded to a letter sent out to 16 media firms by the state Department of Economic and Community Development, McDonald said. The Journal Inquirer of Manchester is also in the mix, according to Stewart.

Three of six prospects had been talking to the broker, the New Mexico-based Dirks, Van Essen & Murray. Another was put in touch with the broker through state Rep. Tim O’Brien, a New Britain Democrat. The other read about the papers’ plight and contacted the DECD, McDonald said.

The sixth prospect is the one the mayors spoke with in Stewart’s office Monday.

Both Stewart and Ward said the New York buyer is the most promising of all.

“He’s most real,” said Stewart. “I think the prospects are pretty good here. They are looking to maintain that hometown nature.”

The mayors wouldn’t name the individual from New York, but said he has many years experience as an editor, is not connected to any Connecticut paper and is not part of a newspaper chain.

“He does come from a strong background in journalism,” said Stewart. “He was very promising.”

Ward said he was “definitely, definitely interested” and has the financing in place to pull it off.

“Hopefully this will amount to something in the very near future,” Stewart said.

Neither the JRC nor the broker has ever disclosed how much money they’re seeking for the papers. Officials said they would not name any potential buyers

for fear of jeopardizing negotiations.

O’Brien said that he and other lawmakers working with McDonald’s office helped generate publicity that may have spurred interest from a buyer.

“Our efforts have succeeded in getting the word out to potential buyers,” said O’Brien. “At this point, it’s in their hands.”

The five potential buyers who are speaking with the broker are “very much interested in doing something,” said state Rep. Frank Nicastro, a Bristol Democrat.

“It appears that negotiations are getting serious,” Nicastro said. “It’s important that we move forward.”

The mayors of New Britain and Bristol said they each spoke with some of the same prospective buyers, but that each of them had been contacted by other potential buyers who were interested in just one of the papers.

Stewart said he spoke with someone from the Journal Inquirer, but Ward said he had not. Stewart said the Manchester paper was interested in both the Press and The Herald and that it was still in the running as a buyer.

Nicastro said citizens need their newspapers. He said he’s heard from many constituents about his work to help save the papers.

“The vast majority of the phone calls are saying, ‘Do what you can do to save the newspaper,’” said Nicastro. He said if people didn’t like it, he would hear from them.

Even if, in the end, no buyer comes through, at least they tried, Nicastro said.

“This can’t hurt,” Nicastro said. “This can only help the citizens of Connecticut.”

State Rep.-elect Chris Wright of Bristol said he hopes it works out because losing the papers would be a blow to democracy. “How can you have a free press if there’s no press?” he asked.

Selling the papers, though, has not proven an easy process.

Stewart said the records kept by the JRC that are being shown to prospective buyers are turning some of them away.

“The books aren’t the greatest,” said Stewart. “That’s part of the issue.”

Some of the concern, said Stewart, is whether the paper is viable. But he said a major stumbling block is that there just isn’t enough information in the books to make a reasonable judgment about the business.

Former Bristol mayoral contender Ken Johnson, who was part of a group that considered buying the Press, said that “the lack of information from the seller has been a primary impediment to submitting any purchase offer.”

Johnson said the broker “actually felt compelled to apologize for the lack of information.”

Another complication, said Stewart, is that the Journal Register Co. papers are so intertwined that it is complicated to sort out the truth about any particular newspaper.

Since the JRC notified employees in Bristol and New Britain on Nov. 11 that it intended to close the papers in 60 days, it has shuttered many weekly papers in southern Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The company is heavily in debt and its stock is worth less than a penny a share.

The newspaper industry as a whole is reeling, with many papers struggling to remain afloat in the face of shrinking circulations and declining advertising. People are shifting their attention online, where newspapers frequently have as many readers as ever, but profits are elusive.

“It’s a challenging time” for newspapers, McDonald said.