A Texas-based private equity investor group has submitted a bid to buy the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Black Press confirmed today.

The offer, referred to as a nonconforming bid, includes the profitable MidWeek, which has not been listed for sale by Star-Bulletin owner Black Press.

Two other parties say they have submitted bids.

Black Press offered the Star-Bulletin for sale on March 15 to satisfy Department of Justice requirements regarding its purchase of long-time rival The Honolulu Advertiser from Gannett Co. 

Non-binding bids were due at 5 p.m. today, said Dennis Francis, publisher of the Star-Bulletin and president of Oahu Publications. 

“;Brian Ferguson has submitted a non-standard bid,”; Francis said. “;It will be up to the Justice Department and the Attorney General to consider its worthiness.”; 

Ferguson, the managing principal of Anthem Newspaper Holdings LLC, and a group of other Texas-based investors are reportedly seeking to buy the Star-Bulletin and Midweek, the company's profitable free-circulation weekly which has not been listed for sale, according to sources familiar with bidding process.

In 2009, Anthem purchased about 6 percent of A. H. Belo Corp., the company that owns the Dallas Morning News, The Press Enterprise of Riverside, Calif., and The Providence Journal in Rhode Island. The group had been a contender for the Denver-based Rocky Mountain News; however, was unable to reach an agreement with owner E.W. Scripps Co. and the newspaper published its final edition on Feb. 27, 2009. 

Others who say they have submitted a bid include:

>>  Sen. Sam Slom (R-Kahala, Hawaii Kai), president and executive director of Smart Business Hawaii, and Malia Zimmerman, cofounder of online news journal Hawaii Reporter. The two said they made a joint bid this morning. Slom, who has been a Hawaii senator since 1996, and Zimmerman envision a lean investigative publication that is less Oahu-centric than the Star-Bulletin and the Advertiser have been. They have not decided whether to pursue a nonprofit or for-profit model and are still lining up potential investors, Slom said. The two may explore an employee stock option plan, he said. 

>> Frederick “;Derick”; Harris, a Big Island-based entrepreneur. While Harris declined to comment on the content of his proposal, he recently presented a business model to the Hawaii Newspaper Guild called NewsNav, which seeks to “;monetize online newspaper content.”;