Fusion Corporate Partners

Sky News City editor Mark Kleinman is reporting in his blog that The Daily Mail and General Trust have held “informal” talks with Express Newspapers owner Richard Desmond about buying his newspapers.

The future of Express Newspapers has come up in several reports in recent weeks. The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Goldman Sachs is looking at options for Desmond’s newspaper titles. Fusion DigiNet reported last week that Barclays Capital has been appointed to sell the magazine business, including OK magazine.

The possible change of direction follows Desmond’s move into mainstream television with the acquisition of Channel Five last September in a £100m deal.

In his blog, Kleinman says: “Any deal resulting in the merger of the Express and Mail titles would mark an extraordinary rapprochement between the two proprietors, who for several years fought an almost-daily feud through the pages of their newspapers.

“The two men are now said to get on reasonably well, and I understand both believe that a deal could be in their interests.”

He added: “It’s not clear who initiated the discussion between Desmond and Rothermere (sources in each camp tell me that the other was responsible for doing so).

“To be clear, Desmond may yet choose not to sell his newspapers.”

Read Mark Kleinman’s blog

UK, London

Related links:

• Northern & Shell to sell their magazine business March 17, 2011

Media Week is reporting that Richard Desmond, founder and owner of Northern & Shell, is to sell the company’s magazine business.

Barclays Capital has been appointed to run the process. Media Week quotes the Barclays Capital presentation has saying that  OK! Magazine in the UK made a profit of around £20m last year. They may be selling the loss making US edition separately from the other 20 international editions.

Read the full story

UK, London

Key Publishing, a UK based publisher of aviation magazines has acquired the business of Model Activity Press (M.A.P.), publisher of Aviation Modeller International, Flying Scale Models and Military Machines International.

Commenting on the buy, Adrian Cox, Managing Director of Key Publishing Ltd said “We are delighted to bring the M.A.P. titles into the Key portfolio. Whilst these titles are in sectors new to Key, there is a natural fit and synergy with our extensive range of aviation titles and our recent launch, Airfix Model World. We are looking forward to building on the firm foundations that the magazines currently have by using the economies of scale that a larger organisation can bring to the party. This is yet another step in some exciting development plans that we have for Key which will involve both more launches and further acquisitions.”

Tony Dowdeswell, owner of M.A.P. said “We have been very happy with the development of our magazine portfolio over the years but the time is right to sell. We are extremely pleased that it has found a great home at Key Publishing, whose culture of serving the interests of enthusiasts fits perfectly with that of M.A.P. Ltd. We are confident that under Key’s wing the magazines will thrive and have the opportunity to reach their true potential”.

The first issues of the three M.A.P. titles produced by Key Publishing will be the May 2011 issues.

UK, Lincolnshire

Related articles:

• Pilot Magazine acquires Today’s Pilot Posted on January 20, 2011

St Ives plc has sold its loss making magazine business, comprising St Ives Peterborough Limited, St Ives Plymouth Limited, St Ives Roche Limited and St Ives Web Limited, to Walstead Newco3 Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Walstead Investments Limited, for £20 million. £15 million in cash and £5m in loan notes.

The Magazine business is the web offset printing operation of St Ives, offering magazine printing capabilities to customers across the UK. The business is responsible for the production of weekly, monthly and specialist magazine titles. It employs around 670 people. Revenues to year-ending July were £70.5 million generated pre-tax losses of £5.1m.

St Ives will retain ownership of the properties currently occupied by the Magazine business in Peterborough, Plymouth and Roche and will lease them to the new owners.

UK, Peterborough