Independent looks at selling stake to fund expansion

by Staff,, Brand Republic 12-Oct-04, 09:00

LONDON - Independent News & Media is reported to have approached other newspaper groups about the possibility of selling a 30% stake in The Independent, to raise funds for a major marketing push for the newspaper that would see it push past The Guardian.

According to The Times this morning, Ivan Fallon, chief executive of Independent News & Media UK, has been pushing the scheme. The paper reports that revenue from the sale would be used for further expansion of the paper.

The Independent is currently riding high on its successful transition from broadsheet to tabloid, which has seen it add 18% to its circulation, with an average figure of 262,588 copies a day in August.

The sales rise has come largely at the expense of The Guardian, which has seen its year-on-year circulation drop by 4%.

However, The Times reports that there is no obvious interest in the sale from other media owners at the moment, and that Trinity Mirror and Associated Media have each privately dismissed the idea.

This could leave the way open for a private equity firm to invest in the paper.

The Independent first began introducing the tabloid in September 2003, and within less than 12 months it had dropped its broadsheet format completely. The company backed the shift with an extensive advertising campaign created by Walsh Trott Chick Smith, using the strapline "No less Independent". It has also run a series of ads flagging up its circulation growth.

It is widely believed that The Times will drop its broadsheet entirely by the end of the year, although the company has not confirmed the rumours at this point.

Independent News & Media owns assets in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, along with the UK, and is headed by chief executive Sir Anthony O'Reilly.

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