The new business will be known as Briefing Media Group and is led by the experienced management team of Neil Thackray and Rory Brown. It is funded by GCP Capital Partners, a mid-market private equity fund.
The agriculture portfolio – comprising the Farmers Guardian and Dairy Farmer titles and their associated online offerings – is based primarily in Preston and employs 57 staff. The London-based general practitioner portfolio employs 33 staff and includes the Pulse and Practical Commissioning magazines and their digital and event products NAPC, the Mental Health Forum, Pulse Seminars, as well as Pulse Learning. Subject to completion of two separate consultation processes under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations, the transaction is expected to close in the next four to six weeks. In total, these assets generated revenues of £12.1m in 2011.
UBM has retained ownership of the Cropworld conference and the Chemist & Druggist magazine and data product portfolio.
In a separate transaction, UBM plc has also sold its Daltons business to Innovare Media Limited. Daltons provides a web-based marketplace for the sale and purchase of UK small and medium enterprises.
David Levin (pictured), CEO, UBM plc said: “I am very pleased we have passed these successful UK magazine titles to a new management team who will provide the focused leadership and investment to ensure their continued success. I would like to thank our teams in Preston and in London for their contribution to UBM over the years and wish them and their new management teams well for the future.”
“These transactions, together with the previous sales of France Presse, Consultant and other assets bring the total gross consideration from disposals announced since 1 January 2011 to more than £25m. These transactions also mark a further significant step in the transformation of UBM into a set of Events and other B2B marketing, communications, and data services businesses serving attractive global communities across a variety of media.”
