OFT clears Trinity Mirror purchase of GMG Regional Media

The £44.8m deal for titles such as the Manchester Evening News and the Reading Post was agreed in February.

A statement released today said: "The OFT has decided, on the information currently available to it, not to refer the following merger to the Competition Commission under the provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002."

The deal completed at the end of March and included all the newspapers in GMG Regional Media's MEN Media division and its Surrey & Berkshire papers, but excluded the Manchester-based TV station Channel M and two newspapers in Woking.

Trinity Mirror is running MEN Media as a separate business, with David Sharrock, formerly chief operating officer of GMG Regional Media, as managing director.

S&B Media is now managed as part of TNS, Trinity Mirror's existing publishing business in the South of England.

National ad sales for MEN Media are currently handled in-house and sales house Media Force manages the national sales for S&B Media.

Trinity Mirror owns Amra, a national sales house for regional publishers, but is yet to confirm whether the national sales for the former GMG publications will move into Amra.

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk