PSO Pearson Plc

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By Rory Gallivan

LONDON--U.K. regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press PLC (JPR.LN) said Thursday it is in talks about buying the "i" newspaper from Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev's media company Independent Print Ltd. for around 24 million pounds ($34.9 million).

Johnston Press, which publishes regional titles such as The Scotsman and Yorkshire Post, said the purchase would make it the U.K.'s fourth-largest print publisher with over 600,000 paid copies a day.

The "i" is a smaller, cheaper version of U.K. national newspaper The Independent. The papers were bought by Mr. Lebedev in 2010. Independent Print Ltd.'s chairman is Mr. Lebedev's son Evgeny Lebedev.

The talks about "i" come at a busy time for deal-making in the U.K. newspaper sector.

Pearson PLC (PSON.LN) last year sold FT Group, which includes the Financial Times newspaper, to Nikkei of Japan for more than $1.3 billion.

Also last year, Johnston Press's local media rival Trinity Mirror PLC (TNI.LN), which also publishes the national Mirror titles, agreed to buy local publisher Local World Holdings Ltd. in a deal valuing it at GBP220 million.

Johnston Press has been under pressure lately as growing digital revenue has failed to offset declining print circulation and advertising revenue. Last month it said it was exploring sales of some of its titles.

Shares at 0847 GMT, were down 0.6%, at 40 pence valuing the company at GBP41.8 million.

-Write to Rory Gallivan at rory.gallivan@wsj.com; Twitter: @RoryGallivan

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 11, 2016 04:25 ET (09:25 GMT)

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