The Department of Trade & Industry has announced that the bid by regional publisher Newsquest for 45 titles currently owned by Independent News & Media has been referred to the Competition Commission.
It was revealed two months ago that IN&M was selling its UK regional newspaper business in a deal worth £60 million (see
Independent News Sells UK Regional Papers To Newsquest). The company intends to concentrate resources on its flagship titles, the
Independent,
Independent on Sunday and the
Belfast Telegraph.
Newsquest is already the UK’s second largest regional group, behind Trinity Mirror, and is owned by the US media corporation Gannett. It recently secured SMG’s publishing division for £216 million (see SMG’s £216m Publishing Sale Gets DTI Go-Ahead).
Commenting on today’s decision, Competition Minister Melanie Johnson said: “This is a large deal and I consider that the proposed transfers give rise to potential competition concerns regarding concentration of ownership of newspaper titles that merit further detailed investigation of the transfers as a whole by the Competition Commission before consent could be given.”
The Commission has been instructed to report back by 19 August.
