The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) today cleared Bath-based media group Future’s £140m takeover of Country Life and Chat publisher TI Media after accepting its offer to sell on three titles.
The CMA launched an investigation in January into the acquisition, the largest in a spate of deals that have transformed Future over recent years. 
Announced last October, the deal took Future’s magazine and website portfolio into new areas such as the wine, golf, equestrian, TV listings and gardening while strengthening its position in cycling, consumer technology and country sports.
But last month the CMA said it had found competition issues in three areas – photography, football and technology.
It said if Future retained all its titles in these areas, there was a “real risk that these readers of football and photography magazines could end up paying more for lower quality products because of the lack of choice in the market”.
However, it said it would allow the deal to go through as long as Future sold titles in these closely-competing sectors.
Today the CMA said it had accepted remedies offered by Future to sell WorldSoccer, Amateur Photographer and Trustedreviews.com and so would not refer the acquisition for an in-depth phase-two investigation.
Future is understood to be an advanced stage of talks with potential buyers for all three titles.
Future today said it had noted the CMA’s announcement, adding that it expected the acquisition of TI Media “to complete shortly”.
World Soccer is aimed at football fans interested in the global game market while Amateur Photographer is a weekly magazine for the amateur or hobbyist photographer.
Trustedreviews.com is a UK-based web platform focused on technology and aimed at a wide audience of mainstream technology enthusiasts and buyers. Content includes reviews, buying advice and live pricing information and deals across a range of consumer and home technology products – including more general household appliances.
The acquisition of TI also gives Future a much larger female readership, with titles such as Marie Claire UK, Woman and Home, and What’s On TV among TI’s 40 brands. London-based TI’s other titles include Decanter and Wallpaper*.
At the time it announced the TI acquisition, Future said annual cost savings would come in at £15m within two years with a significant proportion to be achieved in first full financial year following completion of the acquisition.
TI Media had revenues of £201.5m and adjusted earnings of £28.7m in the year to May 31.
It is the third time in four years that Future, whose titles span hobbies, home entertainment and gadgets, has come up against the CMA.
Two years ago it decided not to buy the gadget review magazine Stuff as part of a deal to acquire specialist consumer titles from rival Haymarket following initial discussions with the CMA.
And in 2016 it was forced to offload Sci-Fi Now – a title it had acquired in its £14.2m acquisition of rival Imagine Publishing – after the CMA stepped in.
Future’s shares soared by nearly 10% to £10.52 when the CMA’s decision was announced. They have since eased back and at lunchtime were trading at £10.42.
