Belgian newspaper company Mediahuis, which owns the NRC Handelsblad, has taken over Concentra Media Nederland, giving it control of the regional paper combine Limburgs Dagblad/De Limburger, plus the Metro free newspaper and several local broadcasters.

The deal makes Mediahuis the third biggest newspaper group in the Netherlands, the company said in a statement. The biggest, De Persgroep, owns the Volkskrant, Trouw and Parool newspapers and is also Belgian.

The Telegraaf Media Group completes the top three. It runs several large regional papers as well as the Telegraaf.