Private equity buys Bauer magazines

Bauer Media’s magazines in New Zealand and Australia have been sold.

Private equity group Mercury Capital has done a deal with the publisher for the business on both sides of the Tasman.

Mercury Capital owns Blue Star Group, which includes New Zealand printers Webstar – which prints many Bauer titles.

Bauer revealed earlier this year it was closing its New Zealand business and selling its magazines.

Among those on the block were NZ Woman’s Weekly, NEXT, North & South, The Listener, Metro, Taste, FQ, Your Home & Garden, Simply You, Home, Good Health and Wellbeing and the website noted.co.nz.

About 230 jobs were affected. Veit Dengler, Bauer Media chief operating officer, said: ‘‘Bauer Media remains committed to magazine publishing. This decision supports our strategy to invest in our market leading brands where we believe we are best placed to do so.

‘‘We have been proud to be the custodian of these iconic brands in Australia. I would like to thank our talented teams for their commitment and the contribution they have made to Bauer Media. I wish them well for the future.’’

The sale is subject to regulatory approvals, with completion expected by the end of July.

It is not yet clear what the sale will mean for the New Zealand titles. It had been suggested that the length of time the sale process was taking would put buyers off, as reader loyalty diminished and key staff went on to other roles.

Among them, Virginia Larson and Donna Chisholm, former North and South editor and editor-at-large, are part of new creative collective Design & Type, former NZ Woman’s Weekly deputy editor Kelly Bertrand has founded Capsule, and Simon Farrell-Green, former editor of Home, has set up Here.