May 18, 2016
Fairfax Media will not be bidding on the regional publishing arm of APN News & Media, the Australian Financial Review newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The sale is being handled by investment bankers Credit Suisse.
APN Australian Regional Media publishes 12 daily newspapers and more than 60 community newspapers and non-daily publications, including the South Burnett Times and Central & North Burnett Times.
According to the AFR, the most likely purchaser of APN ARM is News Corp – which already has a 14.9 per cent stake in APN – as it has more titles in Queensland and “would therefore be able generate more savings by consolidating operations”.
The Fairfax-owned AFR said Fairfax Media was “not interested in doubling down on regional publishing in the Sunshine State where cost savings would be difficult to achieve”.
(Independently, Fairfax and APN are currently discussing the possible merger of their New Zealand holdings).
The AFR reported there were two other possible purchasers for APN ARM: an unnamed private equity group and Singapore-based investment group Fetch Plus
APN announced in February that it had commenced the process to divest itself of the regional publishing arm as regional media was “inconsistent to APN’s long-term ambition”.
In 2015, earnings before tax for APN ARM dropped 27 per cent.
Total revenue fell 7 per cent. National and classified advertising also fell, 13 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.
Readership across the group remained relatively stable, down 4 per cent.
