Private equity firm to buy Reader’s Digest

Reader’s Digest UK has been bought by private equity firm Better Capital, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Administrators Moore Stephens are expected to announce the deal today following an agreement about licensing rights made between the magazine’s parent company Reader’s Digest Association (RDA) and Better Capital.

Reader’s Digest UK filed for administration in February after it was unable to secure funding from the pensions regulator around its £125 million pension deficit.

If the deal goes through it could save the jobs of 135 staff at offices in Swindon and Canary wharf.

In the 1990s, Readers Digest was one of the best-selling magazines in the UK, with a circulation of around 2 million.

According to the title’s most recent ABC audit, for the six month period ending December 2009, it had a total circulation of 465,000 copies, down from 602,600 a year previously.