Sunday Business has been sold by its administrator, Royce Peeling Green,
to its backer of some months, Gordon Brown, the chief executive of the
industrial vehicle manufacturer, Group 2000.
There were ‘two very interested parties’ vying for the paper, according
to Royce Peeling Green, but it would not comment on the identity of the
second bidder or the terms of the deal.
The paper, which had been in voluntary administration for three months,
is thought to have debts totalling pounds 1.2 million. One of the new
owner’s first decisions will be to appoint a general manager to replace
Phil Lawlor, who left the paper in July.
One candidate being tipped for the role is Julia Hutchison, an associate
of the editor, Tom Rubython.
The sale of the paper comes one week after the Sunday Business’s ad
director, Gaby Fireman, quit, leaving Simon Broch as the last remaining
member of the original ad team at the paper. Broch is on a scheduled
holiday.
According to Charles Kerr, the Sunday Business sales director, the sales
team is currently in negotiation with one or two advertisers to arrange
‘giveaway’ deals, similar to the one in which Microsoft bought the
entire print run of the Times.
‘We are very confident that it will happen. We will be looking to do it
for the first week of October,’ Kerr commented.
Neither Brown nor Rubython were available for comment as ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 went
to press.
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