THG PLC (LSE:THG) has expanded from its core businesses of sports nutrition and e-commerce into the media sector with an agreement to buy the City AM newspaper for an undisclosed sum from the administrators.
As expected, the sale was via a pre-pack deal, allowing the online retailer, which rejected a private equity bid itself earlier this year, to agree terms before administrators BDO were brought in.
City AM co-founder Lawson Muncaster, who along with chief executive Jens Torpe and managing director Lawson Muncaster own 50%, said the deal represented a “perfect fit” for the business.
Manchester-based THG does publish its own digital magazines The Supplement and The Highlight, which would seem to be marketing tools focused on the group's sports nutrition and cosmetics businesses.
THG boss Matthew Moulding, who has not had the best relationship with the press during the company's uncomfortable ride as a listed company so far, said the company had been looking to get further into publishing.
He said investment will be made in the editorial department and technology for the newsroom, with expansions of the paper’s lifestyle and sports categories, with of course a greater focus on THG's core wellness and beauty markets.
“We’ve long been reviewing opportunities in the disruptive media space but have waited for the right time and the right opportunity to make a digital step-change in adtech capabilities for Ingenuity,” Moulding said.