Steve Aukland becomes CEO of Local World as DMGT sells off Northcliffe Media
Daily Mail General Trust has agreed the sale of its regional newspaper division Northcliffe Media for £52,5m to recently formed media company Local World.
The deal will see DMGT also take on over a third (38.7 per cent) of the new media group, with the rest of the shares being held by The Iliffe Family who will sell Iliffe News & Media for a 21.3 per cent stake, Trinity Mirror and a number of financial investors.
Over 107 newspapers and 60 local content websites will initially make up the new group, with Local World set to have an enterprise value of £100m upon the completion of the deal.
The group will be made up of 63 local portal websites, 16 daily titles, 36 paid weekly titles, 40 free wekly titles and two Metro franchises, employing over 2,800 people in total.
Heading up the company will be Northcliffe chief executive Steve Aukland who will become CEO of Local World, with Rachel Addison, group finance director at Northcliffe moving to take up the same position within the new company.
David Montgomery will act as chairman, while the board of directors will include Auckland, Addison, Kevin Beatty, chief executive of A&N Media, Tony Bromovsky from Odey Asset Management, Simon Fox, chief executive of Trinity Mirror, Lisa Gordon COO of Yattendon Group, Edward Liffe, group CEO of Yattendon Group, Adrian Perry, deputy finance director of DMGT, Vijay Vaghela, group finanical director of Trinity Mirror and Andrew Wilson, non-exec director of Artefact Group.
Commented Auckland: "Local World will be a comprehensive local content provider, offering the best and most trusted source of news, views and advertising in print, online and mobile, to its local audiences in the UK. The new company will be well-resourced, entrepreneurial, and able to respond quickly to the differing requirements of local communities."