The Racing Post looks set to be snapped up by a UK private-equity giant
It is expected that the current owners of the title are in line for a major payday.
THE COMPANY THAT owns the popular horse-racing paper The Racing Post looks set to be acquired by a UK private-equity giant.
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission published a notice yesterday confirming that it is running the rule over the proposed acquisition of a company called Stradbrook Acquisitions by another firm called Fence Bidco.
Fence Bidco is controlled by yet another outfit, called Exponent Private Equity, a London-based private-equity business, while Stradbrook owns the popular Racing Post newspaper.
The notification confirms speculation over the sale of the paper, which was first reported by the Sunday Business Post.
The Racing Post was acquired by a consortium led by Dublin-based private equity firm FL Partners in 2007 from Trinity Mirror, the group that owns the Daily Mirror newspaper, in a deal financed by Anglo Irish Bank.
Ownership
The consortium, Stradbrook, has over 20 shareholders including some of the management of the Racing Post.
Stradbrook held onto control of the publication in 2014, when it beat off competition to acquire the Racing Posts’ debts, estimated at about €180 million, at a discount from the special liquidator of the defunct lender.
A racegoer carries a Racing Post newspaper
The Racing Post employs 275 people and had an average daily print circulation from Monday to Saturday in the first six months of 2015 of about 42,200.
Although this is down from about 50,000 in 2012, the publication has grown its online traffic in recent years and now averages over 1.2 million unique digital users every month.
The paper was founded in 1986 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum of Dubai, who owns the publication’s trademark.
Profits
Although the publication is currently trading profitably, in recent years it has recorded losses as it struggled with high legacy debts. In the year to the end of 2013, turnover was £55.1 million, up from £52.5 million in 2012, while gross profits rose from £13.4 million to £15.4 million.
Last year, Exponent completed a huge fundraising round in which it tapped investors for £1 billion. It made a large profit flipping its stake in Galway-based financial services company Fintrax, buying the business for €170 million in 2012 before selling on its 90% share for €585 million in 2015.
It is not known how much will be paid for the Racing Post, but it is expected that its current shareholders will get a large return on their initial investment.
The deadline for any submissions to the Competition Authority’s examination of the deal is 27 July.
Exponent had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication, while FL Partners declined to comment when contacted by Fora.
