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Trinity Mirror to complete Local World takeover ‘this week’ – report

Trinity Mirror plcTrinity Mirror’s proposed takeover of Local World could be completed this week, according to reports.

As reported on HTFP in September, Trinity Mirror confirmed it was in talks to buy out the 80pc of shares in Local World it does not already own.

Media Guardian has now reported a £220m takeover deal is set to be announced, which could be completed this week.

Both companies have declined to comment on the speculation.

A merger between Trinity and Local World would create by far the biggest regional newspaper company in the UK with a publishing footprint covering 15 of the top 25 centres of population in England and Wales.

Trinity Mirror already owns the main daily newspaper titles in Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Coventry and Newcastle.

Control of Local World would enable it to add Bristol, Nottingham, Leicester, Hull, Plymouth, Stoke, Derby and Swansea to that list.

After September’s announcement, Welsh Assembly member Peter Black raised concerns journalist jobs in South Wales could be at risk if the merger were to go ahead.

The deal would mean Trinity Mirror would own three of the four daily titles in the region – the South Wales Echo, the Western Mail and the South Wales Evening Post – along with the North Wales Daily Post and a clutch of weeklies.

Trinity Mirror took a 20pc shareholding in Local World when the company was created in 2013 from a merger of Northcliffe Media and Iliffe News and Media.

DMGT, which previously owned Northcliffe, remains the biggest shareholder with a 38.7pc stake, while Iliffe parent company Yattendon plc owns 21.3pc.

The other shareholdings are split between a variety of investors.

According to the Media Guardian report, Yattendon may keep some of its 39 titles out of the Trinity Mirror deal.

At the time Local World was created, the company was valued at around £70m, with Trinity Mirror paying £14.2m for its 20pc stake.

39 comments

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  • October 19, 2015 at 10:52 am
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    Terrific. Just what we want after years of losing staff and being told there’s no pot to pee in – a £220 million investment.

    So throughout all the cutbacks and pain, we’ve been sitting on a massive pile of cash? Who knew?

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  • October 19, 2015 at 11:13 am
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    I’m sure staff at the Local World sites are greeting this news as shocking, their new bosses-to-be are pretty deft with the cutback knife.

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  • October 19, 2015 at 11:17 am
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    Any idea on the titles INML want back?

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  • October 19, 2015 at 11:41 am
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    Abandon ship! Long John Trinity Mirror is flying the Jolly Roger and is preparing to board.

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  • October 19, 2015 at 11:44 am
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    Not two years ago LW staff were given a booklet explaining how the new company was a small, fit-for-purpose, lean and digitally focused operation in the changed media landscape, not beholden to the old ways, free of legacies of debt and property, etc. That was a brave vision, wasn’t it. Ho hum. Same old, same old…

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  • October 19, 2015 at 12:30 pm
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    Anyone up for a bit of catchphrase bingo on the press release when it’s officially announced?

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  • October 19, 2015 at 12:41 pm
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    Trinity Mirror already owns the main daily newspaper titles in Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Coventry and Newcastle.

    Control of Local World would enable it to add Bristol, Nottingham, Leicester, Hull, Plymouth, Stoke, Derby and Swansea to that list.

    Missing one rather significant university city off that list? Telling?

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  • October 19, 2015 at 12:47 pm
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    Newsquest and Johnston Press will soon follow suit, it’s all a part of the master plan.

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  • October 19, 2015 at 12:53 pm
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    I’ll have a flutter on ‘synergy’, ‘streamlining’, ’21st-century’, ‘vision’ and, of course ‘vibrant’ will have to be in there somewhere. ‘Redundancies’ and ‘UGC’ are 100-1 outsiders, natch.

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  • October 19, 2015 at 1:03 pm
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    I wonder if Archant is next on the Trinity Mirror radar. Place your bets!

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  • October 19, 2015 at 1:05 pm
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    steerpike: Yep, “vibrant” will be there, of course, and that hardy perennial “exciting”, as in various newly liberated staff exploring the delightful nuances of the government’s employment realignment and skills transference bureaux.

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  • October 19, 2015 at 1:48 pm
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    So, what’s the logic to this? TM, like the rest, are hacking out costs relentlessly to keep them below return-on-sale. The LW deal will involve borrowings in some form. Are interest rates so low that expansion offers some prospect of making money?

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  • October 19, 2015 at 1:55 pm
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    I suspect the first thing TM will tackle in Wales will be the surfeit of Managing Directors. One can almost hear the jockeying from here.

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  • October 19, 2015 at 2:17 pm
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    Oliver. I don’t think you can get odds on the word ‘exciting’ appearing unless it is how many times will it appear!My phrases are:
    “a very profitable company”
    “challenging market conditions”
    “impressive portfolio of newspapers” and finally
    “cost reduction programme”

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  • October 19, 2015 at 6:56 pm
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    @Archantlifer I don’t think TM are daft enough to bid for Archant are they?
    It would be a good move for us who work there as things couldn’t be any more chaotic or unsettled but surely the albatross of Mustard tv, a business stiffed full of managers and the Uks largest collection of ‘yes men and women’ would be enough to put anyone off and be too high a price to pay , no, I think were stuck with what we’ve got.
    I’ll bet they’ve weighed it up and seen what they get for their money and even they wouldn’t entertain the idea
    Bit of a barge pole job im afraid

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  • October 20, 2015 at 9:59 am
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    You mean TM would turn down the chance to own Mustard TV? You do surprise me.

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  • October 20, 2015 at 10:33 am
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    Meanwhile, over at Local World the exodus/clearout continues. First the digi guru and now the chief information officer, neither apparently having to serve presumably lengthy notice periods.

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  • October 20, 2015 at 11:38 am
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    Sure TM are drawn by LW’s ‘exciting’ digital growth figures, I just hope they appreciate the quality of the journalism that has delivered this transformation.

    My local clickbait factory created this today, which not only contains a glaring factual error anyone with decent local knowledge would have avoided but also seems to be have been generated based on nothing but rumour with no clear source (perhaps a fevered dream the content generator had?): http://www.folkestoneherald.co.uk/Folkestone-s-Wetherspoon-set/story-28018026-detail/story.html

    Glad to be well out of this game. Just couldn’t stand the excitement.

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  • October 20, 2015 at 11:45 am
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    Yep, it looks as if big changes are already under way. Senior bods first but the rank and file won’t be safe once they have been dealt with. What chance a sub, for example, in the brave new world of TM now that Local World has sold out its founding premise for pieces of silver?

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  • October 20, 2015 at 12:13 pm
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    That’s the clearest sign yet that the TM deal is imminent. Ex-TM’er and digital chief takes new job and leaves immediately. And then Denmark’s most competent CIO leaves immediately.

    Decks cleared, deal to be announced Thursday I suspect.

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  • October 20, 2015 at 12:34 pm
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    Dick, wasn’t the founding premise of LW always to post some ‘exciting’ digital growth on the back of crappy clickbait then offload the business for a quick profit? Mission accomplished I’d say.

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  • October 20, 2015 at 1:07 pm
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    I’d say the writing is on the wall for a fair few Local World titles, especially if Trinity Mirror takes the reins.
    I know from my own experience the decline in readers has not been marked by digital growth on many papers – particularly with LW’s atrocious use of intrusive pop-up adverts, cost cutting, and short-term target chasing.
    It felt like they were fudging figures and preparing for a buy out before I left, but I couldn’t work out who would be silly enough to want a piece of it.
    Guess I know now!

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  • October 20, 2015 at 3:13 pm
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    RDG: That was the real founding premise, of course, but many wanted to believe the copywriting… er, sorry, genuinely held views… in that booklet, its vision of an “exciting” journey together into a digitally profitable future, training for all that was more than just online guff about how to recognise a fire extinguisher (though that was very useful), and career support with an organisation that cared about its most valuable resource – its employees. Farewell to all that.

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  • October 20, 2015 at 3:37 pm
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    Local world was NEVER about building a long term business, it was to short term gain and sell the company off for quick profit. “Monty” even said he sees newspapers as “one man band” People are actually turning away from their sites due to the amount of intrusive pop-up adverts.

    Trinity mirror taking over sounds like local papers further into the gutter and more people losing their jobs.

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  • October 20, 2015 at 4:23 pm
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    220 million nails in a coffin is still a coffin

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  • October 20, 2015 at 4:56 pm
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    Dick, if ‘senior bods’ were those entitled manager or above, that would account for around 80% of the entire workforce – hooray!!

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  • October 21, 2015 at 10:07 am
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    As someone who’s survived three – or it may be four – staff culls during the Northcliffe/LW transformation, read the staff booklet and couldn’t stop laughing, and having spotted a pile of letters marked ‘personal and confidential’ on the secretary’s desk this morning, I have this strange feeling that something may be going on.

    This time, though, I’m waving the white flag and walking off with as big a cheque as I can. Hasta la vista, baby…

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  • October 21, 2015 at 12:18 pm
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    Mr Bunnymen, perhaps those are the letters informing LW staff that everyone is to forgo a pay rise this year, as mentioned in the presentations?

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  • October 21, 2015 at 4:07 pm
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    Quite possibly, Mr Sub, although not everyone is foregoing a pay rise this year, as the trainees are getting one. And quite right too.

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  • October 23, 2015 at 1:34 pm
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    Well, it’s Friday and nothing’s happened yet.

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  • October 23, 2015 at 11:09 pm
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    You mean they’d turn down the idea of inheriting Archants Investigations unit @archant lifer and the pretend Sherlock Holmes types who populate the broken desks in that corner of the room? Surely not!
    Throw in Mustard tv and more managers than you can manage to manage and they’d be crazy not to snap it up
    Oh well , their loss old boy
    For now

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  • October 25, 2015 at 10:26 am
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    I would not disagree with you, Mr Bunnymen.
    I do wonder whether the upper echelons of our company are also sacrificing a rise, however?

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  • October 26, 2015 at 9:46 am
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    Fair point, Mr Sub (and the answer to your question is ‘no’). However, I feel quite a view will be looking over their shoulders this week as the axe swings ever closer.

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  • October 26, 2015 at 9:47 am
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    Damn, it that should have been ‘few’. Monday morning and I’m already pressing the wrong buttons.

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