APN sell regional newspapers to focus on radio

APN, the owners of the Australian Radio Network, have made a signficant step in their march towards a company with a sole focus on outdoor and radio – the ‘growth assets’ as they refer to the two mediums as.

The regional newspaper business ‘ARM’, consists of 12 daily newspapers, 60 community newspapers and around 32 regional news websites.

The company has agreed to sell their regional newspaper business to News Corporation, however given News Corp is a 14.99% shareholder in ARN, they were required to seek shareholder approval for the sale. That approval was given overwhelmingly at the shareholders meeting earlier today.

APN Chairman Peter Cosgrove said that the deal allowed the company to look for opportunities to expand further in the radio, outdoor and digital sector. Cosgrove commented:

“I like South East Asia but there’s still quite a bit of opportunity in Australia, particularly on the whole digital side”

Whilst the sale has shareholder approval it will still need the tick of approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board, which will  consider it over the next couple of months.