Emap completes sale of magazine and radio divisions

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 01-Feb-08, 11:05

LONDON - Emap has completed the sale of its consumer magazine business to H Bauer for £714.3m.

Emap's wide range of consumer magazines, including FHM and Grazia, have now joined Bauer's stable of weeklies.

Bauer, which publishes Take a Break and TV Choice, has also bought Emap's 72% share in the magazine distribution business Frontline. Haymarket and BBC Magazines are also shareholders.

The fate of one Emap asset, its £3.7m-valued 40.1% share in Indian magazine publisher NextGen Publishing, has not been finalised. NextGen publishes a local version of Emap's Car under licence. Other shareholders in NextGen include Forbes & Company, with 40.9%, and HDFC, with 10.1%.

The sale of Emap's radio business to Bauer for £422m was completed on Tuesday.

The completions leave the way clear for Guardian Media Group and Apax to put the finishing touches to their £1bn acquisition of the remainder of Emap, announced on December 21. The sale of NextGen was not a pre-condition of this deal.

Emap's remaining B2B division houses magazines such as Construction News and Broadcast, as well as exhibitions, conferences and awards.