Bath Chronicle owner Northcliffe Media, the regional publishing arm of the Daily Mail group (DMGT), has been sold to a consortium led by former Mirror Group boss David Montgomery.
New owner Local World said it “intends to transform regional publishing to create a one-stop shop for local content to serve the community and business in every aspect of life”.
DMGT will become a shareholder in the new venture as well as receiving £50m. Other shareholders will include Iliffe parent company Yattendon, Trinity Mirror, hedge fund manager Crispin Odey and former Conservative Party deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft.
DMGT attempted to sell Northcliffe for £1bn in 2006 but failed to find a buyer. Circulations and advertising revenue at its stable of daily and weekly titles have continued to plummet since then.
Thousands of jobs have been axed, including hundreds of journalists, to cut costs.
Steve Auckland, the former chief executive of Northcliffe, will continue in the same role with Local World, with Mr Montgomery as chairman.
The new group, worth around £100m, will include 16 daily titles, 36 paid weekly titles, 40 free weekly titles and two Metro newspaper franchises.
It will also publish a portfolio of 63 local websites, with a monthly audience of more than seven million.
