BEIRUT: A prominent Syrian-American businessman acquired 20 percent of the Arabic language daily newspaper As-safir, a move that would give the paper more leverage to improve and expand its publication.

“It’s true. Twenty percent of our paper has been bought by Jamal Daniel after one year of talks between the two sides,” Talal Salman, the publisher and editor-in-chief of As-safir, told The Daily Star Thursday.

Salman, who founded As-safir 37 years ago, declined to disclose the amount of money paid for the 20 percent stake in the paper.

But some media reports speculated on the sum Daniel injected into As-safir, a newspaper which boasts about its staunch defense of the Palestinian and Arab causes, was in the millions.

Salman insisted that the policy of the newspaper will not change after the acquisition.

“Daniel is an Arab patriot who believes in the Arab causes. He did not put any condition on the newspaper. In the contrary, Daniel is in our same line of political thinking,” the publisher of the newspaper stressed.

But Salman admitted that the financial conditions of most if not all the newspapers and magazines in Lebanon are not sound due to the difficult economic conditions and for this reason most papers are keen to find investors.

Advertising revenues shrunk dramatically few years ago, prompting some publications to either close down or cut expenses.

Experts say that television and Internet news websites have taken their toll on all publications as the number of readers reached an all-time low in the past few years.

As-safir has 150 part-time and full-time employees. It also owns the building which houses the newspaper, its printing press and the Arab Research Center.

Salman said the newspaper is looking for potential investors, provided that there are no political conditions attached to the partnership.

“We seek more investors in the future to enhance the capabilities of the newspaper,” he said.

But the publisher did not comment on whether there are talks with other investors to buy stakes in the paper.

“Daniel loves his home country Syria and has close relations with several parties in that country. His relation with the Syrian government is also good,” Salman said.

The businessman, who also has a Lebanese nationality, is said to have been a close friend of Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem when the latter was Syria’s envoy to the U.S.

Daniel was born in Tartous, Syria, and lived there until he was 5 before moving to Lebanon. After completing his high school education in a Jesuit school, Daniel and his family moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where he attended the University of Geneva.

He obtained his BA in Business from Pepperdine University in 1980. Daniel in 1982 graduated with an MBA from the University of Texas in Austin Business School and presently resides in Houston, Texas, where he is president and chairman of Crest Investment Company.

Daniel has 30 years experience managing investments in oil and gas, high technology, manufacturing and real estate. He also founded The Levant Foundation in Houston, Texas, which is a private, non-profit organization committed to the furthering of knowledge about the Levant culture and history in the Middle East as well as the interrelations of the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

He also has connections with U.S. congressional and senate leaders and some reports suggest that Daniel used his ties in Washington to close the gap between the U.S. administration and Damascus before the outbreak of demonstrations against Syrian President Bashar Assad.