Archant Acquires Highbury Local Publications

Community media group, Archant, has completed the acquisition of Highbury Local Publications from Highbury House, making the purchase for £6.1 million in order to acquire its portfolio of six monthly lifestyle magazines and the three Property Mart titles operating in and around London.

The deal marks a continuation of Archant’s strategic growth plan, with the company developing its commitment to local community publishing and continuing to support local magazines with newspapers and magazines in selected areas.

The deal sees Archant acquire Highbury Local’s six monthly lifestyle magazines with a total circulation of almost 400,000. The titles are distributed to upmarket homes in North, West and South London. The titles acquired under the deal include Southwest, The Hill, The Guide, Living South, The Green and Northwest. These will now join the Archant Life group under managing director, Johnny Hustler.

In addition to the lifestyle titles, the purchase of Highbury Local sees Archant gain control of the three Property Mart magazines in West Essex, South Essex and East London. These will join the fast-growing Archant London stable under managing director, Enzo Testa.

The latest expansion follows Archant’s acquisition of 27 weekly titles in the London area last year, including the Islington Gazette and the Kensington Times. The purchases, worth a total of £62 million were completed in September 2004 after the Competition Commission concluded that it would not lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the market for advertising in the affected areas (see Archant Merger Cleared By Competition Watchdog).

Commenting on the latest deal, Archant’s chief executive, John Fry, said: “This acquisition fits our growth strategy perfectly, coming directly after our recent purchase of Romsey Publishing. We have a clear local community publishing ethos and we will continue to seek purchases, launches and organic growth that add good quality community publications to our fast-growing portfolio. We aim to widen our footprint in the UK and deepen its tread by layering magazines, newspaper and local websites in our chosen areas.”

Archant : 01603 772803 www.archant.co.uk Highbury House Communications: www.hhc.co.uk

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