News groups look at regional titles combine

By GRAEME EVANS AND GARETH MACKIE
Published on 28/10/2012 15:01

The owner of the Daily Mail is mulling a move that could see its regional newspaper arm combined with that of rival Iliffe News & Media, publisher of the Cambridge News and Hertfordshire Mercury titles.

Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) and Yattendon Group – the parent company of Iliffe – would between them own close to 50 per cent of the merged business, while former Mirror Group chief executive David Montgomery will also have a stake.

DMGT said: “No deal or transaction has been agreed but if these talks move to the point where agreement is reached, an announcement will be made to the market.”

Northcliffe Media publishes more than 80 titles, including the Leicester Mercury and South Wales Evening Post, and generated an operating profit of £17 million on the back of sales of £236m last year.

The proposed deal is expected to value Northcliffe at little more than a tenth of the £1.2 billion offer reportedly rejected by DMGT in 2005.

Iliffe News & Media has a portfolio of three daily newspapers, 25 weekly newspapers and two Sunday newspapers.

A spokeswoman for Yattendon Group said: “We have a shared vision about the long-term opportunities for local media but, at this stage, there is no certainty whether these discussions will lead to a satisfactory conclusion.”