Chantelle Benjamin
12 November 2009
Johannesburg — MEDIA24 has bought the specialised magazine division of Primedia Publishing, which includes about 17 titles. A new division called Media24 Business Magazines would be formed, Media24 CEO Francois Groepe said yesterday.
Media24 Magazines CEO John Relihan said there was a good fit between the Media24 stable of predominantly consumer and customer magazines and Primedia's business titles, which include Advantage and Money Marketing .
"We firmly believe in the strength of having a diverse portfolio and look forward to unlocking the synergies," Relihan said .
The acquisition price was not disclosed.
Media24 is media giant Naspers 's print and publishing arm . It is believed the sale did not fall foul of the Competition Commission because they are all specialist business to business publications.
The Primedia Publishing magazine division will be moved intact, with its MD Jacques Breytenbach, to Media24's Sandton offices.
Primedia CEO Kuben Pillay said the sale " was necessitated by the fact that traditional publishing had gradually become noncore to the group (Primedia), and as such, our ability to develop our personnel and afford them the career development opportunities they deserved was severely inhibited.
"We found ourselves unable to effectively leverage the publishing business and therefore sought to find a buyer who could exploit the synergies more successfully, and benefit from the additional scale."
Cadiz Asset Management analyst Rob Nagel said the sale made sense for both companies, saying it looked a "better fit" but declined to comment further, saying it was hard without the figures involved in the sale.
Chris Moerdyk, an independent marketing analyst, also supported the sale, saying Primedia's magazine division never seemed to gel with its core business.
"Media24 is inheriting some good titles, the most notable being Advantage, which is considered the leading print publication in the advertising industry," he said. "Business to business publications are still very healthy, far more than business to consumer."
Moerdyk said Media24 is best equipped to take the brands further. "They have learnt some very hard lessons in the past but what they now have is a very good spread of products."
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