JRC Connecticut Editor 'Optimistic' About Potential Buyers

By: Joe Strupp The executive editor of two Journal Register Co. Connecticut dailies up for sale says he is optimistic that a buyer for the papers will be found following reports that a least six interested parties have come forward.

"I have been really gratified to see that the conventional wisdom is wrong, this is still a strong industry if people go in with the right attention," Marc Levy, executive editor for The Bristol Press and New Britain Herald, as well as the Middletown Press, told E&P. "I think the company might have been taken by surprise by the amount of interest there has been."

While no formal offers have been announced, Levy said he knows of at least six potential bidders, including two neighboring newspapers, a local investors group, and one unidentified former free daily publisher.

Levy's comments follow a meeting Monday between several state and local officials, including representatives from the state Economic Development Commission, which is discussing possible incentives for would-be owners.

A Bristol Press story reported "at least six potential buyers [were] eyeing The Bristol Press, The Herald of New Britain and 11 weeklies." It quoted state Economic Development Commissioner Joan McDonald as saying, ?we are guardedly optimistic."??

The Press also stated that: "five of the six are already talking to the broker hired by the Journal Register Co. to try to sell the ... papers slated to close in mid-January unless a new owner takes over."

A Hartford Courant story, however, took a different tone, declaring, "No Offer Yet," in a headline for a story that went on to state: "no concrete offers have materialized."

Neither story named specific potential buyers among the six. But Levy said the Record-Journal of Meriden and the Journal Inquirer of Manchester were among those that had either bid or expressed heavy interest.

"I have been optimistic throughout because when I started talking to people I found out there was interest from two neighboring papers," Levy said. "Then you start hearing about those out of state buyers and bidders."

Walter Rudewicz, general manager of the Manchester paper, declined to comment on his paper's potential part in a bid, stating: "It is an ongoing process, I don?t want to comment." Officials from the Meriden paper were unavailable Tuesday morning.

Journal Register announced in November that it had put the New Britain and Bristol papers up for sale, adding that if no buyers are found by mid-January, they would close.

"As of Jan. 16, either we are in the hands of a new owner or we are shutdown," Levy said. "But I think [Journal Register] is trying to structure the process to make it easier for this to occur."