Mirror Group Newspapers is in final talks to purchase the Derry Journal and its sister titles, the Donegal Democrat and the Donegal People's Press. If the sale goes through it will be the first time a British media group will have bought into the Republic's provincial press. The sale price is believed to be in the region of £18 to £20 million.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the Derry Journal denied a sale had taken place. However, it is believed that the sale has been agreed and the two companies are going through the legal complexities, made especially difficult given the cross-Border nature of the Derry Journal group.
The news follows weeks of speculation as to what was going to happen to the highly successful newspaper group. It was known that Trinity Holdings was interested. It already owns the Sunday Business Post in Dublin and the Belfast Telegraph.
Mirror group owns the News Letter in Belfast, which now shares facilities with the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror's Irish operations. It means the nationalist Derry Journal will be owned by the same group that owns the unionist News Letter.
The purchase of the Derry Journal would give Mirror group a printing plant just outside Derry, which would help relieve pressure on its Belfast plant. It would also give Mirror group a profitable operation. The Derry Journal is published twice a week with sales of 26,000 on Tuesday and 27,000 on Fridays. It publishes a free-sheet, Journal Extra. The Donegal Democrat has sales of 19,000 a week. The Donegal People's Press is a recent acquisition.
