Council seeks talks with Trinity over MEN sale

MANCHESTER City Council is seeking talks with the new owners of the Manchester Evening News following the Guardian’s sale of the newspaper, ending its historic links with the city.

Guardian Media Group confirmed yesterday it had sold GMG Regional Media, which publishes 22 newspapers and associated websites, including the flagship Manchester Evening News, to trinity Mirror for £44.8m.

In a statement the council said it hoped to meet with the new owners to, “discuss their plans for the paper and how we can work with them”.

It added: “If Trinity Mirror’s acquisition of the Manchester Evening News and its weekly titles will secure their futures, that can only be good news for the city and the wider Manchester city region.

“There has been speculation that the MEN may move from the city centre. Even if true, there is no suggestion that the MEN would leave the Manchester city region.”

Staff at the MEN’s city centre offices in Spinningfields were told yesterday that they will be relocating to Oldham within the next six months.

Trinity Mirror will not be acquiring Channel M, the TV station for Greater Manchester, along with two local newspapers in Woking. The deal has put a question mark over Channel M’s long-term future, and it must leave its studios in Manchester’s Urbis museum this month to make way for the National Football Museum which is relocating from Preston.

Trinity will only pay £7.4m in cash for the group – the remaining £37.4m will come from the release of a long term printing contract. The businesses, which made no operating profit in the 12 months to December 2009, have gross assets of £8.7m. Trinity Mirror, which owns the Liverpool Daily Post and  the Echo, said the acquisition would complement its existing portfolio reinforce its commitment to regional media.
 
Carolyn McCall, chief executive of Guardian Media Group, said: “GMG is mandated to secure the future of the Guardian in perpetuity, and we have a strong portfolio which has to be in the right shape to achieve that goal. The group board and the Scott Trust have made the decision to sell in light of these strategic objectives.”

NUJ deputy general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: “The move by Trinity Mirror has implications for the future ownership of local media across the UK, as major publishers weigh their chances of swallowing up what remains of independent publishing in Britain.”

She added: “The NUJ’s immediate priority is to secure the employment of the MEN workforce and to have real guarantees from Trinity Mirror that the quality and content of MEN publications will be protected.”

The MEN was founded in 1868 and bought by the Guardian in 1924. The deal all but ends the Guardian’s long association with Manchester.

* Read Marc Reeves‘ and Chris Barry’s perspectives on the deal