Newspaper group PCM told to sell the NRC

Wednesday 01 July 2009

Newspaper publishing group PCM has been told to sell the NRC Handelsblad and NRC.next newspapers by the competition authority NMa.

PCM, which owns four of the country's five main daily papers, is about to be taken over by Belgium's Persgroep, which owns Amsterdam paper Het Parool.

But if Persgroep takes over PCM as a whole, it will have too-big a share of the Amsterdam regional newspaper market, the NMa said.

'Research shows if Parool readers decide to take another newspaper, they mainly opt for the Volkskrant or NRC,' the organisation said. The biggest circulation newspaper in the country is the Telegraaf.

Persgroep director Christian van Thillo has already said he wants to sell the NRC. The money will go to reduce PCM's debts.

Investment company HAL, which owns the Financieele Dagblad, and the Telegraaf have been named as potential buyers.

© DutchNews.nl

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