Bauer ANZ boss keen to revive mags as Mercury Capital takes the rein

Bauer Media Australia and New Zealand chief executive Brendon Hill is confident all suspended magazines titles will return in print and that there will be no further job cuts after announcing the sale of the business to investment firm Mercury Capital .

Mr Hill, who suspended nearly 10 magazines including Elle, NW and OK!, made almost 150 staff redundant and shut the New Zealand operation last month, said the publisher of Australian Women's Weekly and Woman's Day will have an opportunity to grow under new ownership.

"The ad market has looked more positive in the last three to four weeks than it was when we had to make those tough decisions," Mr Hill said. "We are absolutely committed to bringing them back with that timing - September, October - dependent again on advertising revenue."

Bauer Media Australia boss Brendon Hill announced the company had been sold to private equity.Credit: Jacky Ghossein

“Nothing in my plans [involving job losses]," he said. "Mercury has indicated they want two to three months to work with the new team and the executive team...and then lay out a really good strategy roadmap for growth into the future."

Mr Hill confirmed on Wednesday that the German family-owned publisher has sold its Australian and New Zealand magazines to buyout fund Mercury just one month after buying Seven West Media's Pacific Magazines for $40 million, giving global chief executive Yvonne Bauer a much needed exit from the business she bought for $525 million in 2012.

A source close to the deal told The Age and the Herald that Mercury had bought the business for more than $40 million.

Six chief executives have led Bauer since it took over Australian Consolidated Press eight years ago. Since the transaction - which was considered to be well over market value - Bauer has axed major magazine titles including Dolly, Cleo, Cosmopolitan, Men's Style, ZOOWeekly, People and The Picture magazines, hundreds of publishing jobs have been lost and the publisher was also caught in a defamation case with actor Rebel Wilson.

Economic factors related to the coronavirus pandemic put further pressure on the embattled publisher. Bauer, like many media companies, experienced dramatic falls in advertising spending, forcing it to try and renegotiate the terms of its acquisition of Pacific. Sources said almost all executives involved in the sale at the company's Hamburg headquarters have since lost their jobs.

Once the Bauer and Pacific deal was completed the business started aggressively slashing costs through mass redundancies and suspension of print magazines, which sources said was an attempt to shore up the business for its sale to Mercury. About 60 Pacific staff were told they would be made redundant in their first couple of days at the newly merged business.

The cuts were in addition to almost 200 Pacific roles axed last December before the merger. Bauer also made 70 jobs redundant before sale completion and has suspended print production of titles including Elle, Harper's Bazaar, NW, OK!, Men's Health and Women's Health.

Mercury had been in talks to buy the Australian and New Zealand operations last year, but the discussions fell apart when Bauer's plans to buy Pacific, which published New Idea and Women's Health, were delayed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Once the deal between Bauer and Pacific was completed, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed that the conversations had been revived. The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed, but are expected to be substantially less than what was paid eight years ago.

But Mr Hill said the Bauer family had invested significantly in the local market and had brought "a lot to the table".

“They are really good magazine people. They brought a lot to the table. They also let local management really do their thing but lent support where they could," he said. "It’s really hard for them actually. I know them very well...they just really needed to concentrate on Europe."