The owners of MK News have bought the company behind the town’s popular web portal mkweb.co.uk, the official website of Milton Keynes.

Iliffe News and Media, which also owns Cambridge Newspapers, Herts & Essex Newspapers and Staffordshire Newspapers, has acquired Apollo Digital Developments.

Iliffe chief executive David Fordham said: “mkweb.co.uk has established itself as a significant online media player in and around Milton Keynes and we anticipate that by combining the resources of the Apollo operation with our existing newspaper interests we will be able to accelerate the growth of our multi-media business, not only in Milton Keynes, but across many of the other areas in which we have a publishing presence.”

mkweb.co.uk was launched in 1998 in conjunction with Milton Keynes Council.

Since then, the award-winning website has established itself as a key online information portal for Milton Keynes.

David added: “The combination of MK News and mkweb.co.uk gives us an unrivalled audience reach for advertisers, local residents, visitors and the wider business community of Milton Keynes.”

Becky Moffat, the recently appointed head of digital media at Iliffe, will join the Apollo Board and spearhead the development of Iliffe’s newspaper based websites alongside the Apollo business.

Iliffe’s acquisitions during the past year include Staffordshire weekly Your Leek Paper and the Heartland Evening News.