Germans irked at Anglo-American investors

BERLIN, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- German journalists are complaining about an Anglo-American group's purchase of a prominent Berlin newspaper business.

David Montgomery, the former chief executive of Britain's Mirror Group PLC, is expected to announce formally the $177 million acquisition of Berliner Verlag, the publisher of the Berliner Zeitung and Berliner Kurier newspapers.

Montgomery's Mecom Group PLC investment group and U.S. partner Veronis Suhler Stevenson plan to buy the company from Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH, the Independent reported Wednesday.

Germany's Die Tageszeitung editorialized: "Nobody can seriously believe that (Montgomery) wants to treat journalistic and financial ambitions on an equal footing at Berliner Verlag, as he has promised."