Two newspapermen agreed to buy an Iowa daily.

The two, former executives of the Des Moines Register, will buy the Ames Daily Tribune, according to a joint announcement. Michael G. Gartner and Gary G. Gerlach, owners of Midwest Newspapers Inc., said their purchase of the Tribune should be completed by year-end. The sale price was not announced. Gartner is a former president of Des Moines Register & Tribune Co. and former editor of the Register. Gerlach had been executive vice president of the company and the paper’s publisher. The Tribune is a six-day-a-week newspaper with paid circulation exceeding 10,000.