UPDATE 1-Potential Hartford Courant buyer's interest cools
(Adds comments from Chase, background)
NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - The one potential buyer for the Hartford Courant said on Thursday she is no longer interested in buying the daily newspaper from Tribune Co, unless there were some signs of financial growth.
"If there is no growth potential, we are absolutely not going to be interested," said Cheryl Chase, executive vice president of Chase Enterprises, a Hartford-based real estate company.
Chase's decision casts doubt on whether the popular notion that wealthy businesspeople could be persuaded to step in and save ailing newspapers because of the vanity value that comes with owning the local paper.
Her comments came after Chicago-based Tribune said it would sell the Newsday daily newspaper on Long Island to Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N) for $650 million. That offer beat bids of $580 million made by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp NWSa.N and New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman.
Chase was one of several potential buyers who surfaced for Tribune properties when the company was considering whether to sell some of its assets or seek a buyer for the whole company.
She said she never made an offer because Tribune never offered Chase Enterprises a look at the Courant's financial information.
"We made it very clear in writing that we were interested in purchasing the Courant," she said.
The Courant, which claims to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States, has an average weekday circulation is 168,158 copies, down from more than 175,000 last year, according to figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
A Tribune spokesman declined to comment.
When Chicago real estate billionaire Sam Zell took the company private in an $8.2 billion deal in 2007, he said he would sell the Chicago Cubs and the Wrigley Field ballpark, but otherwise said he wanted to keep Tribune intact.
Since then, Tribune's financial situation has worsened in large part because of advertising declines in its newspaper business. That prompted him earlier this year to say that he would consider selling some properties.
The prices of U.S. newspapers keep falling as their value wanes, although a typical purchase price range is about 6.5 to 7 times their cash flow -- compared with 10 to 12 times cash flow two years ago.
One group that analysts and industry experts have said might be interested in paying premiums are rich buyers who desire the prestige that comes with owning the local press.
Chase said her company's interest waned because of the advertising declines. Continued...
