By: (AP) A group of Kentucky investors interested in owning the Lexington Herald-Leader has asked to be included on a list of potential buyers if Knight-Ridder is broken up and sold in pieces.
The group includes Jim Gray, a former Lexington mayoral candidate and CEO of Gray Construction, and Al Smith, a former publisher of smaller Kentucky newspapers and host of KET's Comment on Kentucky.
Gray and Smith said they have contacted Goldman Sachs, a Wall Street firm that is advising Knight Ridder, to be included on a list of potential buyers of individual newspapers.
Gray said he thinks the group has "less than a 10% chance" of buying the Herald-Leader, but the members would be ignoring their responsibility to restore local ownership to one of Lexington's "most important civic assets" if it did nothing.
Knight Ridder agreed in November to consider a sale after major shareholders said the stock was undervalued, but the company has insisted that it be sold as a whole. Final bids reportedly are due in February.
"We are exploring strategic options for the whole company and we have no interest in selling individual newspapers or groups of newspapers," Knight Ridder spokesman Polk Laffoon said recently.
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