APN News & Media has sold its regional business to rival News Corp, after it was revealed several companies had thrown their hat into the ring to purchase the assets.
The bidding process for APN’s Australian Regional Media (ARM) closed on Friday with News Corp emerging as the winner today, buying it for $36.6m.
ARM newspapers are currently printed across three press hall sites, Rockhampton and Yandina in Queensland and Warwick in New South Wales. It is unknown if News Corp will continue to print at these sites when the sale is finalised.
APN was hoping to raise $50m for the regional business, which includes 12 daily newspapers and 60 community newspapers across Queensland and northern New South Wales.
APN chairmain Peter Cosgrove said in a statement, “The divestment of ARM is an historic day for the company as APN has been the custodian of some wonderful newspapers whose community roots go back over 150 years. We are now passing that ownership onto another media group with deep publishing experience across regional Australia.
“The future of APN looks bright. On the back of the NZME demerger that was overwhelmingly supported by our shareholders last week, we will be a more nimble media company purely focused on growing our media assets of radio and outdoor.”
APN chief executive Ciaran Davis informed investors in March that it would divest from ARM after the division recorded a 27 per cent fall in profit.
Davis said at the time, “Despite having reduced the cost base of ARM by $40m over the past three years, the business has maintained stable audiences and grown its digital footprint through delivery of greater digital content.
“Pursuing this digital growth strategy will, however, require further investment, particularly in fast tracking the digitisation and monetisation of its loyal and local audiences. APN has been a long term supporter of regional publishing in Australia however, our future investments must remain focused on growth assets and opportunities.”
News Corp recently revealed it plans to shut down seven of its local Leader Community Newspapers by the end of the month, asserting that print ‘is not sustainable’ in its smaller markets.
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