SUVA: Outgoing Fiji Times managing director Anne Fussell regrets the forced selling of the country's oldest newspaper.
But Fussal, an Australian, is confident selling the publication to the Motibhai Group was the right call, the fijilive website reported.
"While I deeply regret the fact that we were forced to sell the Fiji Times, I am very pleased that we have found a buyer like the Motibhai Group which recognises not only the heritage of the Fiji Times but also its importance in taking Fiji forward," she said.
The sale, announced by News Ltd this week, will be finalised on September 22 and is in line with a Fiji government decree requiring all media organisations to be 90 percent locally owned.
"I consider myself enormously fortunate to have worked at the Fiji Times with such an enthusiastic, professional and dedicated staff," Fussell said.
"I know that they have won the respect of newspaper people and the public the world over."
She would not comment on when she would be returning home to Australia.
A spokeswoman for Fiji's interim government said the sale was a sign of investor confidence in the country.
"It's a win-win situation for everybody, and I think one that augurs well with everybody, and I wish (the new owners) all the best," Sharon Smith-Johns told the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation.
"We'll work with them and engage with them the same way we have engaged with everyone else."
Motibhai Group chairman Mahendra Patel said he was looking forward to engaging with the military-led government and keeping the Fiji Times as the leading newspaper in the country. - Sydney Morning Herald/AAP/Pacific Media Watch
Pacific Media Watch
