Caxton and CTP Publishers has sold its entire shareholding in the Times Media Group (TMG) to the Blackstar Group, it was reported on Tuesday.

The sale was announced on Monday by TMG.

This brings Blackstar’s holding in TMG to 32,3% of the total issued share capital. Blackstar is a private equity group, which was founded by TMG CEO Andrew Bonamour.

“Caxton’s rationale for the disposal was that they wanted to increase their cash holdings,” Kagiso Asset Management research head Abdul Davids was quoted as saying.

“We know that TMG has renegotiated some printing contracts that will have some negative impact on Caxton,” Davids reportedly told the newspaper.

Caxton, which is one of the largest publishers and printers of books and community newspapers in the country, reduced its holding in TMG to 11,6% last year and to 7,53% by January this year, the Business Report newspaper reported. — Sapa