DomRep investors buy oldest newspaper

A partnership of Dominican Republic businessmen has bought that country's oldest daily newspaper and its radio stations, officials announced Monday.

The Dominican Republic's Central Bank formalised the sale of Listin Diario to a group of 20 wealthy investors, who said in a statement they shared a commitment "to preserve and be faithful to the historical legacy" of the 121-year-old company.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but officials said the total cost includes the roughly US$51.8 million the media company owes to the government, which temporarily seized and ran the newspaper after a severe banking crisis in 2003.

The investors, including Juan Bautista Vicini Lluberes of the Dominican sugar giant Vicini and media mogul José Luis 'Pepin' Corripio, met with President Leonel Fernandez on Monday to vow that the debt will be paid.

The sale of the newspaper and its radio stations took shape after more than a year of negotiations with the chief of the Central Bank, Hector Valdez Albizu.

Listin Diario was owned by the prominent Pellerano family from its founding in 1889 until 2000, when it was bought by Ramon Baez Figueroa, head of Banco Intercontinental, then the country's second biggest bank.

The government took over the newspaper temporarily after the bank collapsed in May 2003, after losing some US$2.2 billion through embezzlement, fraud and bad deals. Baez was fined US$1.9 million and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Listin Diario has a daily circulation of 60,000.

- AP