The Wexford-based Echo Newspaper Group has been withdrawn from sale, after discussions with several potential buyers proved unsuccessful.

The owners of the group, Norman and Eamonn Buttle, are believed to have been unhappy with the level of interest shown. While the group refused to comment, it is understood the highest bid was about € 4.5 million.

AIB Corporate Finance, which handled the sale, talked to several newspaper groups from the Republic and Britain, among them Scottish Radio Holdings and Thomas Crosbie Holdings.

The group publishes papers in Wexford, Gorey, New Ross and Enniscorthy, but faces strong competition in all these areas from the People group, owned by Independent News & Media.

The owners had hoped for bids of up to € 12 million, but figures on this scale never transpired.

The People Group (which owns six titles) has a higher circulation throughout Wexford than the Echo Group and the resources available to it, via Independent News & Media, may have put off some buyers.

"The People is very much the dominant group there and it would be very hard to break that stranglehold," said a senior newspaper figure yesterday.

The Buttles asked AIB to gauge interest in the titles after several other newspapers were sold for large sums, including the Meath Chronicle, which was purchased last year for € 30 million by Dunfermline Press.

The Buttle brothers are also involved in South East Radio and have property interests in Wexford.