British Family Buys a Maxwell Newspaper : Media: The European is the first part of the late publisher’s crumbling empire to be sold since his death at sea Nov. 5.

Robert Maxwell’s The European newspaper has been rescued by British investors who bought the money-losing English-language weekly for an undisclosed price, a court-appointed administrator announced Monday.

Administrator Martin Fishman announced that the newspaper had been sold to a company controlled by David and Frederick Barclay.

The sale is the first major disposal of Maxwell property since the administrator took charge of parts of Maxwell’s crumbling media empire after the publisher’s death at sea Nov. 5.

The future is still uncertain for the privately owned Daily News of New York and the publicly held companies Maxwell once controlled, Maxwell Communication Corp. and Mirror Group Newspapers.

The Daily News, which is operating under U.S. bankruptcy court protection from creditors, hopes to be rescued by investors.

Maxwell Communication, which is under bankruptcy court protection on both sides of the Atlantic, hopes to retain its core publishing operations--namely the U.S. publisher Macmillan Inc.--as it reorganizes its debts. The family had owned 68% of this company.

Court-appointed administrators hope to find a buyer for the Maxwell family’s 51% stake in Mirror Group, which has managed to stay out of bankruptcy court.

Securing a future for Robert Maxwell’s properties has been complicated by allegations that he siphoned off more than $1.2 billion from the public companies and their pension funds in a desperate effort to keep his debt-strapped empire going.

He allegedly used the funds to support the price of Maxwell Communication’s stock, service debts and cover operating losses.

The 57-year-old Barclays, who are twin brothers, have interests in real estate and hotels. The Sunday Times ranks them as Britain’s 18th-wealthiest family, with a personal fortune of $846 million.

Charles Garside, the former deputy editor who took over as acting editor under the administrators, is staying on as editor and general manager, the statement said.

Garside said in the statement: “The future of The European is now secure.”

The new owners didn’t immediately announce their plans for the paper, or how many employees would be rehired. They set a news conference for Wednesday.

The European clung to life for weeks while the administrators sought a buyer. It continued to publish with about half its regular staff, rehired on a temporary basis after all 150 employees were laid off in mid-December.