CANDOVER and CVC have teamed up to bid for Daily Mail and General Trust’s regional newspaper arm, as the field thins further before this evening’s deadline for second-round bids, The Times has learnt.
Uncertainty also hovers around Johnston Press, which is debating whether to proceed with its own bid or wait to see if any assets are put up for sale by the winner, following a similar move by Trinity Mirror last week.
The remaining bidders in the race are Gannett, the world’s biggest newspaper group and owner of USA Today, which has the fire power to mount a competitive bid to challenge the Candover/CVC combination, and Providence, the venture capital group.
Another venture capital group, Cinven, quit amid worries about pension liabilities and the weak current trading at the business, which has been hit by a slowdown in classified advertising.
DMGT is hoping to raise close to £1.5 billion from the sale, although the talk from bidders is that they will pitch their offers closer to £1.3 billion. The business, Northcliffe Newspapers, generated £102 million last year.
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Viscount Rotheremere’s newspaper group has told Northcliffe bosses that it is intending to sign a contract with the winner on February 22. But the deal, which will require shareholder approval, will not be completed until the end of March.
CVC switched to supporting Candover after its alliance with Trinity Mirror collapsed. The joint bid is fronted by Chris Oakley, a newspaper industry veteran who has helped the venture capital group to make profits from a string of deals.
Gannett’s UK bosses are keen to pursue a bid, which would make the American company the biggest owner of regional papers in this country, but it is not clear what support the Virgina headquarters is prepared to give.