THE prospect of finding new investors for the Irish Press titles now seems bleak after the breakdown of arrangements between Independent Newspapers and Irish Press for a relaunch of the three titles.

The outlook for the titles now depends on whether new investors can be found either to support the relaunch plans of Irish Press plc management or to buy the titles.

There was some interest last year. But the titles have now been off the market since last May making it more difficult and expensive to relaunch them.

The US consortium which made an offer for the titles last August is no longer interested. "We made a genuine bid but we got no response whatsoever from Irish Press. We built a consortium, the time was right but now time has moved on and the members have moved on to other things," a source said.

The Sunday Business Post which made a takeover offer with the British Telegraph group as a minority partner before Independent Newspapers paid £1.125 million for its 24.9 per cent stake said it would be "premature to say if we are still interested".

Post chief executive Ms Barbara Nugent said: "It is now a much less attractive proposition than it was 18 months ago when we made our offer, because the titles have been off the market for so long and Independent has absorbed a lot of the readership and advertising revenue.

It would be very difficult to relaunch now, much more difficult than 18 months ago even then it would have been difficult. It is strange that it has been off the market for so long and it is now announced that Independent is not prepared to put up its share".

No reason has been given for the collapse of arrangements between Irish Press plc and Independent Newspapers.

Independent declined to elaborate and Irish Press chairman Mr Vincent Jennings was not available for comment.

On Monday, Mr Jennings told those working on the projected relaunch that it had been abandoned. Some sources suggested Independent had withdrawn its support for the relaunch while others suggested Mr Jennings had made his announcement to staff because he felt Independent's support had cooled.

There are a number of possible reasons for the breakdown:

(1) disagreement between the parties on policy or direction.

(2) disagreement on cost control or an escalation of the costs.

(3) the imminent requirement for substantial investment to facilitate a relaunch. The cost of the relaunch has been estimated at between £5 million and £6 million

(4) a reassessment by Independent of the original decision Independent's titles have benefited from the absence of the Irish Press titles from the streets since May 25th, 1995. Supporting the relaunch of a potential competitor might not now be in the interests of Independent Newspapers' share-holders.

(5) a reluctance by Independent to get into a legal battle with the Government.

The move will have been based on a number of factors. But the result is critical for Irish Press plc and the three titles.

When Independent bought its 24.9 per cent stake in Irish Press plc and Irish Press Publications, it advanced a £2 million loan to Irish Press. That loan was secured on the titles and was conditional on the company not making any substantial alteration in its business without the prior consent in writing of Independent.

Independent will thus be involved in any decision on the future of the Irish Press titles both as a significant minority share-holder in the company and as a creditor whose loan is secured on the titles.

Solange, the vehicle set up for the relaunch, was funded by Irish Press and Independent. Solange lent £110,000 to another company, Sarzeau, to buy publishing equipment at the liquidation auction of IPN. Between September and December 1995, Irish Press advanced about £100,000 to Solange for the relaunch.

But the assets of Irish Press itself are limited. Total assets of just under £2 million include loans to IPP and IPN, which is in liquidation with debts of £20 million. Irish Press has a second charge on the titles.

Various values have been put on the three titles, from £10 million by the directors to £4.5 million by the courts to £100,000 by one director. But industry sources reckon that after eight months out of circulation the current value of the titles may now be negligible. Without the emergence of a white knight, the future for Irish Press and its three titles is now very bleak.