Independent News & Media is confident that its £300 million sterling (€487 million) takeover of the Belfast Telegraph will get the go-ahead from the Competition Commission in the UK and from the Department of Trade and Industry despite the continued opposition to the takeover from Ulster Unionist MPs in Westminster.
While unionist politicians expressed their anger at the sale of Northern Ireland's flagship evening title, the managing director and editor of the Telegraph welcomed the sale to Independent. Editor Mr Edmund Curran said he envisaged no change in editorial policy of the paper. "The Telegraph is one of the great cross-community institutions of Ulster. We are proud it is accepted in unionist and nationalist homes alike and read by many more people across the province than any other newspaper."
Independent has gone to great lengths to emphasise that it will retain the Telegraph's moderate unionist ethos and has recruited a range of unionist and nationalist luminaries, including Lord Rogan - the chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party - to its local board.
Independent has also emphasised that the Telegraph will become part of Independent's British operations, which take in the London Independent and Independent on Sunday.
The initial reaction from unionist politicians, including deputy party leader and local newspaper proprietor Mr John Taylor, suggests they will fiercely oppose the Independent takeover and will lobby both the Competition Commission and the British government.
The unionist politicians have stated that their opposition to the deal is based purely on competitive reasons, reiterated yesterday by Mr Taylor when he said that the takeover would cost jobs and advertising and would impact severely on the North's two morning titles, the unionist-leaning News Letter and the nationalist-leaning Irish News.
But the head of Independent's British operations, Mr Brendan Hopkins, said the group was absolutely confident the takeover would be approved by the Competition Commission. "Two sets of our lawyers and Trinity Mirror's own lawyers have gone through this deal with a fine tooth comb and are absolutely convinced that the deal will pass any regulatory hurdles," he said.
"This is a commercial deal and we've had good advice. From our perspective, we made an assessment of all the issues and we have no doubt that we are recommending a good deal," Trinity Mirror chief executive Mr Philip Graf said.
Mr Hopkins added that it may be up to six months before the deal is presented to the British Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Mr Stephen Byers, for his approval.
Even if the deal is approved by the Competition Commission, it does not automatically follow that it will given the go-ahead by Mr Byers.
Industry sources believe that there is little prospect of the deal being blocked on competition grounds alone and that the Unionist politicians opposed to the takeover will target Mr Byers and claim the takeover of the North's biggest newspaper by a company domiciled in the Republic would be against the common good.
The £300 million bid from Independent was understood to have been about £20 million above the next-highest bid from US newspaper group Gannett. The price - almost 15 times Telegaph's profits - was defended by Mr Hopkins, who said it compared with the multiples paid by Independent for its newspaper businesses in Australia and New Zealand.
"This is the sort of multiple you pay for a strong metropolitan franchise," he said.
The Telegraph - which has a circulation of about 130,000 - had operating profits of £21 million sterling on sales of £54 million last year.
Mr Hopkins conceded that a substantial portion of the £4 million profits from contract printing would go when the contract to print News International titles expired in July 2001.
He added, however, that Independent was confident of replacing this lost print business with a replacement printing contract from Trinity Mirror.
