Owner of Independent in dash to raise €100m

Sale of newspaper possible

The group hopes by raising €100m via a 'deeply discounted' rights issue it hopes to be able to repay half the money and deal with the other half at a later stage. It has been mooted that the flagship title will be sold to the London Evening Standard owner Alexander Lebedev to stem the group's losses.

The company has until Friday to refinance its debt, failure to do which would place the company's survival in doubt. A proposal to pay bondholders €30m plus 10 per cent of the proceeds from disposals of assets was previously rejected. There are hopes, however, that the current plan to pay €100m, comprising more than €50 from the rights issue and 15 per cent of the disposals, will plug the gap for the moment. The rest of the debt would then be re-packaged into a new bond, maturing in several years when the situation may be more rosy.

With bondholders receiving nothing if the group goes into administration, agreement this time is likely. Tony O'Reilly and Denis O'Brien - owners of a near 60 per cent stake in the company – are thought to be in favour of wrapping up talks this week, although there is a chance discussions may continue past the deadline, subject to agreement of all those concerned.