FORMER KGB agent and Evening Standard owner Alexander Lebedev has been given more time to secure a deal to buy The Independent and Independent on Sunday, it has been confirmed.
Independent News & Media said a period of exclusivity – due to end yesterday – had been extended to February 26 in order to “facilitate bringing these discussions to a successful conclusion”.
The Russian oligarch already owns London’s Evening Standard after snapping up the loss-making paper in January of last year for a nominal fee.
A deal bringing the Independent newspapers into the same fold as the Evening Standard is considered to be a logistical fit.
INM titles already share the same offices as the London paper after relocating to space with the Standard’s minority-owner Associated Newspapers in Kensington, west London.
The future of the Independent and its Sunday counterpart have been widely speculated on over the past year as its Dublin-based parent has suffered losses amid an advertising slump.
