The biggest magazine publisher in the country, ACP, which has a 45 per cent market share, will be sold to German media giant Bauer Media Group in a deal believed to be worth $500m

The biggest magazine publisher in the country, ACP, which has a 45 per cent market share, will be sold to German media giant Bauer Media Group in a deal believed to be worth $500m

The biggest magazine publisher in the country, ACP, which has a 45 per cent market share, will be sold to German media giant Bauer Media Group in a deal believed to be worth $500m.

ACP uses the country’s biggest printer PMP as its primary print partner. PMP and ACP recently signed a contract extension to take it beyond the 2013 date the current contract was set for. Four years ago ACP announced it was setting up its own print plant, and spent two years exploring the idea, before deciding to stick with contractors, with PMP having the lion's share of the work. IMPG also prints a fair amount of ACP work.

Richard Allely, CEO, PMP says, "This is wonderful news, it's fantastic to see that an international company is purchasing assets in Australia, for a print perspective it is simply good news and nothing but good news. We have a contract with ACP magazines that will continue, we print around 60 magazines for ACP which is 80 per cent and we have the opportunity to bid for the remaining 20 per cent."

ACP consumer magazines include the country’s most popular magazine Australian Women’s Weekly with a circulation of 465,000 a week.  It also prints top selling titles Cleo, Cosmopolitan, Dolly, Zoo, TV Week, Rolling Stone amongst a host of other titles.

Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group, Europe’s largest privately owned publishing group and publishes more than 300 magazines in 15 countries with major market shares in the UK and Germany and now adds Australia to its list.

Yvonne Bauer, publisher and owner, Bauer Media Group says, “We are delighted to welcome ACP as a member of the Bauer Media Group. ACP fits our strategy of developing the Bauer Media Group globally, we believe in print, and ACP’s strong brands in Australia and New Zealand are perfect platforms to expand into digital areas.”

Matthew Stanton, CEO, ACP says, “Being part of the Bauer Media Group provides ACP with a positive and clear future, under and owner who is focused on magazines and who will support investment and growth in our business. This outcome provides commitment for the long term for both our brands and people.”

David Gyngell, CEO, Nine Entertainment says, “The decision to sell the magazine business is not one we have made lightly. On balance however, the sale provides NEC with an attractive cash valuation and ACP with the benefits of being part of a global publisher organisation.”

Nine sold ACP due to intense pressure on its parent CVC, the private equity fund which bought Nine from James Packer five years ago for $1.4bn and took on the company’s $3.8bn in debt. CVC is likely to lose upwards of $2bn on the deal.