German publishing giant Bauer Media and Pacific Magazines owner Seven West Media have held talks about potentially creating a joint venture, following the landmark deal of Nine looking to buy Fairfax for $4.2bn last week.

It is likely that the Australian subdivision of Bauer and Seven would consider shared merchandising and subscription services to cut down on costs. Although the discussions were said to be on hold, the two companies could still return to the table, as reported by Street Talk with the Australian Financial Review.

The two are Australia’s largest magazine publishers, with Bauer being at the top, having almost 50 per cent of the market share. Pacific Magazines has 35 per cent. IVE prints for Pac Mags, beating out competitor PMP for a four year contract last year. PMP prints for Bauer.

[Related: Nine proposes buying Fairfax]

PMP was originally joined with Pacific Magazines, as Pacific Magazines and Printing, the company Rupert Murdoch formed in 1991, spinning off his magazine business. Seven bought Pac Mags in 2002, leaving PMP sorely as a print business.

Bauer holds Cosmo, Dolly and the Australian Women’s Weekly within its portfolio while Pac Mags publishes titles including InStyle, New Idea, Girlfriend and Marie Claire.

Fairfax also has created a joint venture with News Corp earlier this month, with the two rivals to share printing facilities. Fairfax is closing two plants in the process, expecting to save $15m per year.

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