Norwich-based Archant is latest British media group to enter the Irish market with a €1.5 million stake in the start-up Dublin Daily News, which is set for publication in March.
The group is taking a 20 per cent share in the project, which is chaired by the businessman, Mr Paschal Taggart.
The morning title will be aimed exclusively at the Dublin market and Archant's investment completes an initial funding round of €4 million. This is €1 million more than the target outlined in the company's original business plan.
The title will be edited by Mr Liam Hayes, who was founding editor of Ireland on Sunday. Five individuals working for the owner of the Online.ie website, DigiServe, are understood to have resigned their posts last week. They are entrepreneur Mr Colm Grealy, who will be chief executive of the newspaper; journalists Mr Douglas Dalby and Mr Fiachra Ó Marcaigh; marketing manager Mr Frank Hannigan; and chief financial officer Mr Denis Lally.
It is understood that the founder of the Irish-abroad.com website, Mr Bill Hannifan, is now running Online.ie for its investors, who include the US venture capitalists, Cross Atlantic.
The move is Archant's first venture into the Irish market, where a plethora of British regional and international operators have upped their presence significantly in recent years. The group has four regional daily titles, 23 weekly paid-for and 34 weekly freesheets, whose combined weekly circulation is more than 2.6 million. In addition, it publishes 40 regional magazines.
However, the investment in the Dublin project is minor when compared with the £270 million sterling (€421 million) credit line approved by shareholders two months ago. Such a facility would enable the group to "move quickly" when investment opportunities arose, the group said yesterday.
Archant was brought into the project by Mr John Crowe of Chapman Flood Mazaar. The group will be the biggest single investor in the Dublin Daily News, which is gearing up for a launch in about nine or 10 weeks. This is later than the January target outlined in the business plan seen by The Irish Times. Other investors, who include Mr Taggart, are said to be mainly Irish-based, although some individuals are thought to be based in the US.
The firm, said to be discussing terms to print a 64-page full-colour paper with two organisations, has set only modest circulation targets for the new publication. It aims for a circulation of 25,000 in the first year and 33,000 in the second.
Geared at a Dublin readership in the 20-35 age bracket, the tabloid title will be published on weekdays initially. The business plan outlined a "bright, breezy format", positioned between the Irish Independent and the Star.
The backers aim to compete with the Evening Herald for classified advertising. Mr Grealy said the publication aimed to take readers from existing products.
Mr Hayes said: "The rationale for the launch of the Dublin Daily is very clear when you consider that this is the only capital city in Europe without its own daily newspaper." He claims that national newspapers published in Dublin do not serve the city exclusively.
