Persgroep to bid for Wegener regional newspaper group

The publisher of three of the Netherlands big daily papers is one of the prospective buyers of the regional newspaper group Wegener, the Volkskrant reports on Monday.


The Persgroep, founded by Belgian Christian Thillo, owns the Volkskrant, AD and Trouw.
British newspaper group Mecom, which was trying to build up a European regional paper empire, has put Wegener up for sale.
Sources close to the sale process say it is not clear if the Persgroep wants to keep all the Wegener papers. Wegener has seven regional papers and a large stable of weekly freesheets.

Competition

One theory is that the Persgroep and TMG, which owns the Telegraaf, may split up Wegener’s papers between them, to avoid competition concerns.
The first phase of the takeover process involves making a non-binding offer to establish how many companies are in the running.
According to the Volkskrant, Mecom paid €800m for Wegener in 2007 but the company is now worth under €150m.
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