Highbury Shareholders Approve Magazine Sale

Highbury House Communications shareholders have approved the sale of 38 magazine titles to rival publisher, Future, for a cash consideration of £30.5 million.

The sale was approved at an extraordinary general meeting held by Highbury House.

The titles purchased include, Fast Cars, Fast Bikes, DJ, DVD Review, the What Video group of magazines and Highbury’s puzzle offerings. The deal also includes Highbury’s US division, which publishes five magazines (see Future Acquires 38 Magazines From Highbury House).

In April, Future dropped its proposed bid for Highbury House following an announcement by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) that the deal would be referred to the Competition Commission before being allowed to go ahead (see NewsLine).

The merger would have created the UK’s third-largest consumer magazine group, overtaking the BBC’s magazine division and thought to be worth £96.5 million.

Commenting on the acquisition of the Highbury titles, Greg Ingham, chief executive of Future said: “These are classic special-interest magazines, which will be great additions to the Future portfolio. I am delighted that we have managed to reach an agreement with the Highbury Board to secure a positive outcome for both businesses.”

Ingham continued: “This deal has several of the attractions of the larger one with Highbury from which we withdrew earlier this month. We have built up considerable knowledge of Highbury’s portfolio over the past few months and thus have been able to move swiftly.”

Future Publishing: 01225 442 244 www.futurenet.com Highbury House Communications: www.hhc.co.uk