news-record.com

Landmark Media Enterprises LLC, which owns the News & Record, announced today that it has suspended the search for buyers for most of its properties, citing the "credit crisis."

The company is continuing negotiations to sell The Virginian-Pilot, the newspaper in Norfolk, Va., which reported the suspension Wednesday. Landmark's vice chairman, Richard F. Barry III, declined to identify the prospective buyer or say when the sale might be completed.

The company announced in January that it wanted to sell its holdings, which include the News & Record and the Roanoke (Va.) Times. Landmark bought the local paper's two predecessors, the Greensboro Daily News and the Greensboro Record, in 1965.

Frank Batten Jr., Landmark's chairman and chief executive officer, said the company will continue to operate its businesses for the next several years before restarting the sales process. The company will consider offers in the interim. Batten did not specify how long it would be until it resumed seeking formal bids.

Batten said that the credit crisis had made it virtually impossible for prospective buyers to get financing. Reduced revenue and earnings because of the weak economy have made it difficult to value the businesses, Batten added.

In September, Landmark sold its most profitable business, The Weather Channel Cos., to NBC Universal and two private equity firms. People close to the parties said the sale price was about $3.5 billion.

Two weeks ago, however, Landmark announced that the planned sale of its Nashville television station to Bonten Media Group Inc. of New York had fallen through because of credit problems.