Times may include 2nd paper in sale of Boston Globe

BOSTON — The New York Times Co. hopes to sell a newspaper in central Massachusetts along with The Boston Globe and wants the buyer of the papers to take on $59 million in pension liabilities. It intends to make a deal quite quickly, according to a letter sent to potential bidders.

The confidential letter from the company's investment bankers at Goldman Sachs, which was obtained by a Times reporter, says the company will focus on getting the highest price and "on the certainty and speed with which bidders can sign a definitive agreement and complete an acquisition." It sets a July 8 deadline for initial, nonbinding bids, after which the company would choose which potential buyers would participate in a second round and would be allowed to submit binding offers.

In the document, Goldman Sachs does not hint at an anticipated price for The Globe, for which the Times Co. paid $1.1 billion in 1993. But the paper has turned into a significant money-loser, becoming the most troubled asset of a company that has scrambled this year to cut costs and raise cash.

The Goldman Sachs letter begins by referring to a transaction involving the Times Co.'s New England Media Group, which includes both The Globe and The Worcester Telegram & Gazette, which the company bought in 2000, along with their Web sites.

That wording seems to suggest that the two papers would be sold as a package — the letter does not explicitly address that question — and it is not clear how that would affect the thinking of possible buyers. People briefed on the thinking of the company and potential bidders said the company would consider any arrangement that maximized the price, but that the two papers had some joint operations, so it made sense to regard them as a unit.

They say that several people prominent Boston business people have weighed whether to bid for The Globe, talking to possible investors and, in some cases, considering joining forces. They include Jack Connors, the former chief of an advertising agency who now heads a regional network of hospitals and clinics; Stephen G. Pagliuca, a managing director of Bain Capital Partners and a co-owner of the Boston Celtics; and Stephen E. Taylor, a former Globe executive whose family owned the paper before selling it to the Times Co.