National Press

By John Reynolds, mediaweek.co.uk, 18 January 2010, 4:30pm

Lebedev to extend INM talks as proposals take shape

London - Alexander Lebedev's purchase of The Independent and Independent on Sunday is likely to go ahead but will not be completed by the 15 February deadline, with taking the daily paper free being one of the options currently being considered, according to sources close to the deal.

Lebedev: INM talks to be extended

Independent News & Media (IN&M), the publisher of the two up-for-sale papers, and Lebedev, owner of the London Evening Standard, are likely to seek a month extension to their period of exclusive talks, which began in December last year.

The source said: "The deal is likely to go ahead as planned. But there are a few sticking points. I expect it to be completed by the middle of March."

One sticking point in negotiations is resolving printing contract issues between the two parties, along with the transfer of staff. The Independent currently holds a long-running printing contract with Trinity Mirror.

Sources also revealed that Lebedev is considering dispensing with The Independent's £1 cover price and boosting its circulation as an alternative to maintaining the status quo with a paper that has been shedding readers in recent years.

Discussions over taking the paper free, which would put Lebedev in the unique position of owning a morning and afternoon free newspaper, have centred on ballooning The Independent's distribution from its current 185,000 copies to 500,000. Should it be successful and drive up sufficient additional advertising revenue, distribution would rise to between 700,000 and one million copies.

Sources said Lebedev is keen to take on Associated Newspapers-owned The Metro, which distributes around 1.3 million free copies around the country, initially in the capital and ultimately the rest of the UK.

One source said: "He is definitely looking at going free in the capital and ramping up its distribution. It is not clear if he will go immediately free across the rest of the country."

The Metro currently holds the lucrative contract to distribute newspapers from bins on the London Underground. A tender was put out last year, but it is unclear if Lebedev has bid for the contract. Hand distribution of 700,000 free copies of The Independent would, said a source, be "fiendishly expensive".

There is also the difficulty of scaling up the printing of The Independent to such an extent. The London Evening Standard, which Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) has a 24.9% stake in, is printed in Surrey Quays, as are some copies of The Daily Mail. There is not thought to be excess capacity at the site.

INM said it didn't comment on speculation. Alexander Lebedev was unavailable for comment.

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All Comments

I Monkfish - 18 January 2010

John, For the second week running you have reported on The Independent with 'sources' giving you a completely one-sided view of the facts. The printing contract, staff and pension are big issues that wlll cost the new owners tens of millions of pounds. You do not reference the furore concerning the appointment of a new editor which has resulted in unrest with staff, management, readers and possibly advertisers.

To me this seems to be a story in a series of calculated leaks so that it appears that the deal is done and the situation is all rosy. You should speak to staff, management, media agencies and advertisers so that you get a better insight - otherwise it looks like you are the mouthpiece for a weekly press release. Let's see what they feed you next Monday.

martin media - 19 January 2010

This looks great for Camp Lebedev. It could have been written by him and his "advisers". Sure if you had good contacts at INM PLC in Dublin you would get a different view....