UPI Expected to Select Buyer Next Week

After nearly 12 months of looking for financial help--six of them in bankruptcy--United Press International is likely to announce next week the selection of a buyer to help reorganize the struggling news agency, sources familiar with the company said Thursday.

Management plans to meet with its creditors committee Monday, the sources said, and may announce Monday night the name of the prospective buyer and the financial terms of the sale.

Management, creditors and the Wire Service Guild representing the news agency’s domestic employees would then present their recommendations to a federal bankruptcy judge in Washington for approval.

On Thursday, the Wire Service Guild, which is working independently with an investment banker to find a buyer, held a news conference in Washington to announce that it has tentative agreements with two potential buyers and hopes that a third buyer will submit a proposal this weekend.

William Morrissey, president of the union, said his group had worked out agreements with Houston developer Joe Russo and with Mario Vazquez-Rana, publisher of Mexico’s largest newspaper group. The union said it would recommend a buyer to the bankruptcy court as early as Monday.

Although the union and management are cooperating in the search for a buyer, no guarantee exists that the two groups will recommend the same buyer.