Montgomery to purchase Norway's Orkla Media

Posted by Maddie Hanna on June 29, 2006 at 11:19 AM

Former Mirror Group executive David Montgomery announced plans to purchase Norway’s Orkla Media by the end of July, the Guardian reported Wednesday, a sweeping move that further extends his reach over European media.

Orkla Media, the fifth largest media group in the Nordic area, publishes in Scandinavia, Poland, the Baltic States and Ukraine. Its Danish paper, Berlinske, is the biggest in Denmark. In Poland, its 13 assets make it the largest player in the nation’s market. Orkla owns local papers in Norway and Sweden with No. 1 positions.

During the past year, Montgomery has been accumulating media groups through his investment fund Mecom and, at times, generating considerable unrest in the process. His October purchase of Berlin publishing group Berliner Verlag outraged Berliner Zeitung employees. In February, Mecom purchased the Hamburger Morgenpost, Hamburg's second largest daily newspaper. The third acquisition came in April with the Telegraaf Media Group’s LMG.

Source: The Guardian (through European Journalism Centre), Orkla