APN sells two New Zealand newspapers

APN has announced the sale of its Christchurch and Oamaru newspaper businesses.

The announcement:

APN New Zealand Media today announced the sale of its Christchurch and Oamaru newspaper businesses to independent publisher Mainland Press Ltd, which operates a chain of community papers and directories in Christchurch.

The main APN titles included in the sale, The Star in Canterbury established in 1868 and the Oamaru Mail which began publishing in 1879, are among the oldest in New Zealand.

Announcing the sale, APN New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Simons said the newspapers had performed vital roles for their communities and were being sold to a successful publisher.

“The decision to sell was based on our determination to concentrate our efforts on the North Island where most of our businesses are located and where most of New Zealand’s growth would occur in the next decade,” he said.

All staff at the Christchurch and Oamaru businesses will transfer to the new ownership. The Mainland group is privately owned by Pier and Charlotte Smulders, and chaired by Nick Smith, director of Allied Press, publisher of the Otago Daily Times and CTV in Canterbury.

The Star recently played a pivotal role in reporting the Christchurch earthquakes and won national and trans-Tasman awards for its coverage.

Mr Simons said the Star’s effort in converting from a bi-weekly broadsheet to a daily free compact newspaper within 24 hours of the devastating 22 February 2011 earthquake was truly remarkable.

The newspaper was published free daily for several months after the earthquake, providing a vital communication link for Christchurch people living without many basic services. It was retained in compact format when it was converted back to bi-weekly in the quake’s aftermath.

In its original form The Star was one of New Zealand’s greatest afternoon daily newspapers. It was acquired by Wilson & Horton in 1989 and came under APN ownership in 2001. It was converted from a paid daily to a bi-weekly free in 1991.

Mr Simons said the Oamaru Mail also had a proud history and had been covering the North Otago region for nearly 135 years. The paper moved from afternoon to morning delivery in November 2011, with compact editions Monday to Thursday, and then converted the Friday paper from broadsheet to compact the following year.

In announcing details of the sale to staff this morning Mr Simons paid tribute to the strong contribution they had made to APN over many years and for their “tremendous resilience, passion and loyalty under sometimes very difficult circumstances”.

Mainland Media managing director Pier Smulders said “with a renewed focus on local news and stories, and by bringing our great teams together with Mainland’s stable of titles, we will be serving our communities and advertisers long into the future.”

The chairman of Mainland Media, Nick Smith, added “the purchase of a multinational publisher’s local interests is great for Christchurch and the South Island’s publishing businesses. Local ownership has many benefits as what’s good for the community is good for the papers and vice versa. We will ensure we do and must remain connected to readers and advertisers alike with appealing news.”

Mainland Media was established in 2007. Its titles include Mainland Press, the Bay Harbour News, NorWestNews,SelwynView,PegasusBayNews,andSouthernViewnewspapers. Thecompanyalso publishes Best Motorbuys, Buy, Sell & Exchange, SeeBeSeen magazine, Forward50 magazine (formerly called Older & Bolder), and the nationwide gardening magazine – Weekend Gardener.

Source: APN press release