The owners of The Tuam Herald newspaper have said that they are not committed to selling the newspaper — one of the oldest in the country and that they only appointed venture capitalists Raglan Capital to ‘explore the matter.’
Weekend newspaper reports stated that the newspaper was set to become the third family-owned newspaper in the west to be sold so far this year, with a ‘pricetag’ of €10 million placed on the paper which was established in 1837.
The company employs about 20 people at its premises at Dublin Road, Tuam and is renowned as having produced dozens of the country’s most accomplished reporters and photographers.
However, last evening, the newspaper stated that no sale has been agreed and nobody has yet made any offer for the business.
It confirmed that the release of details of the proposed sale did not come from the company and that staff were surprised to hear about them.
“A number of reports regarding the sale of The Tuam Herald have been in circulation. None of these reports were authorised by The Tuam Herald.
“The position is that the company has been approached many times regarding a possible sale, and none of the approaches has been entertained.
“However the company decided, following an approach shortly after Christmas, to appoint Raglan Capital to explore the matter further,” the statement read.
“This was done on a strictly confidential basis, with no commitment to any further action. No offer has been made and no "price tag" has been set.
“We have not made any decision to sell. We regret that our staff, customers and readers have been surprised in this needless way.
“In the event of any major decision being made, our families, our staff, our advertisers and our readers would be the first to be informed by us,” it concluded.
However, there has already been interest in the potential sale of the newspaper and several major media groups have already received additional details from Raglan Capital.
Alreday this year The Sligo Champion newspaper has been sold for a price in the region of €20 million and The Mayo News in Westport is currently on the market with a pricetag of €10million.
It is also believed that another Galway newspaper group is looking to sell its titles and has already made contact with potential buyers. However, these negotiations have so far proved fruitless.
