Bauer under cut-price offer from Sydney p/e fund

Private equity fund Mercury Capital is reportedly in “advanced talks” to buy the country’s biggest magazine publisher Bauer Media from its German owners.

According to the AFR Mercury has tabled a bid of $150m for Bauer, a whopping 70 per cent less than Bauer paid previous owner Nine seven years ago for what was then ACP, when it stumped up $525m.

However Bauer has since struggled to turn a quid from its Aussie and Kiwi businesses and has engaged in magazine closures and significant cost-cutting, which did give it a modest profit last year.

Its magazines are mainly printed by Ovato (formerly PMP), with rival IVE printing Pacific Magazines’ titles. However last month Pacific owner Seven West Media agreed to sell its magazine business to Bauer.

Bauer has a 33 per cent share of the local magazine market, with Pacific taking around 22 per cent.