Events and content business Ascential announced at the beginning of the year that it was putting 13 heritage media brands – formerly Emap’s business-to-business titles – up for sale. The group subsequently sold Health Service Journal to Wilmington for £19m.
Now 11 remaining UK brands, comprising Drapers, Nursing Times, Local Government Chronicle, Construction News, New Civil Engineer, Ground Engineering, H&V News/RAC, Retail Jeweller, Materials Recycling World and its group of architecture titles including Architects’ Journal, The Architectural Review and the World Architecture Festival have been sold to Metropolis International for £23.5m in cash.
Ascential said the 11 brands had sales of £32.1m in 2016, and generated adjusted EBITDA of £6.9m. The gross assets, including intangibles, were £18m.
It now has one remaining heritage brand to dispose of, Middle East business intelligence title Meed.
Metropolis has expanded rapidly on the back of a series of acquisitions. The Ascential deal marks its biggest buy yet and has the potential to see the circa £30m turnover group double in size.
Chief executive Robert Marr said he was pleased to acquire a portfolio of market-leading brands. “They were at the heart of the Emap business, and I am confident they have a strong future within Metropolis,” he said.
At the time of writing there was no information on whether this would involve any changes to the printing arrangements for the titles.
