Times Media Group, the publishing, music and retail group formerly known as Avusa, has said it intends acquiring the 50% stake in the loss-making BDFM it does not own.
Times Media, which owns the Sunday Times, Exclusive Books, Nu Metro and Gallo Music, is buying the stake from Pearson, the UK publishing company that owns the Financial Times.
BDFM owns the Business Day and Financial Mail print media titles as well as Summit television, a business channel on DStv which will soon be renamed Business Day Television, or BDTV.
“Newspapers and the entire news industry are undergoing fundamental structural change, requiring new investment, new ways of doing business and often difficult decisions,” Times Media says in a statement to shareholders.
“The full acquisition of BDFM by Times Media will allow for economies of scale, an integrated operations platform and operational synergies, and will permit BDFM, under unified ownership, to accelerate its digital transformation.”
Last year, Business Day relaunched its website under the BDLive brand and intends to erect a pay wall around its content this year.
Times Media, which is also in the process of selling retailer Exclusive Books, says it believes it can “further develop and enhance” BDFM’s television offering, which, it says, “could be a growth area”.
BDFM will continue to have a relationship with the Financial Times through a content syndication agreement and a programme through which BDFM journalists are placed at the London-based newspaper.
In terms of the acquisition, the BDFM board must establish a three-member independent committee to provide, among other things, input regarding the appointment and dismissal of editors. The committee will have the power to approve or reject the appointment or dismissal of editors proposed by the board. The committee will consist of two members appointed by Pearson and one by the board of BDFM.
The value of the deal, which is subject to the fulfilment of a number of conditions, has not been disclosed. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media
