Business News

Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag purchases Elmshorner Nachrichten and minority interest in Pinneberger Tageblatt from Axel Springer

Friday 06. March 2009 - The newspaper publisher Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag (SHZ) has purchased the regional newspaper Elmshorner Nachrichten and a minority interest in Pinneberger Tageblatt (23.44 percent) from Axel Springer AG. Corresponding purchase agreements were entered into today.

Josef Propst, Managing Director of Regional Newspaper Investments at Axel Springer AG: “I wish to thank our colleagues in the editorial and publishing offices of Elmshorner Nachrichten and Pinneberger Tageblatt for the many years of successful collaboration based on mutual trust and confidence.”

Already in February 2009, Axel Springer sold its minority investments in the regional newspapers Leipziger Volkszeitung, Lübecker Nachrichten and Kieler Nachrichten, as well as its investment in the north German holding company Hanseatische Verlags-Beteiligung, to the publishing group Verlagsgruppe Madsack. By selling its investments in these regional newspapers, Axel Springer AG intends to focus more on its own newspapers, on the multimedia expansion of its brands and on new acquisitions of online growth businesses.

Axel Springer AG intends to hold on to its investment in Harburger Anzeigen und Nachrichten and its regional newspaper Bergedorfer Zeitung, due to their importance for the company’s activities in the key region of Hamburg.

The transactions are pending, subject to the approval of the anti-trust authority.