Germany: First newspaper sale to foreign owners approved by cartel office

Posted by Anna-Maria Mende on November 26, 2005 at 7:32 AM

The German cartel office (Bundeskartellamt) has approved the takeover of newspaper publisher Berliner Verlag, publisher of daily newspaper Berliner Zeitung, by a consortium of Mecom and Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a U.S. equity form (see former postings (here and here). Cartel office President Ulf Boege said on Reuters, "The planned merger will not lead to the founding or the strengthening of a dominant market position in the relevant markets, since it does not entail any market share increases." It is the first sale of a German newspaper to foreign owners. 

The Financial Times Deutschland reports that according to the plan of the new owners the Berliner Verlag should become the headquarters of a new media group that will buy further regional newspapers in Germany and Europe. But for the time being, the consortium will concentrate on the development of the Berliner Verlag.

Source: ReutersFinancial Times Deutschland 

1 Comments

Rich said:

I guess there is a mere political interest.

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