Trinity Mirror to buy Leicester Mercury's parent Local World

Owner of The Daily Mirror, Trinity Mirror is set to acquire Leicester Mercury's parent company Local World.

Trinity Mirror already holds a 20-per cent stake in the business and the current deal values Local World at £220 million. With the completion of the deal, Trinity Mirror would emerge as the UK's biggest regional news publisher.

Trinity Mirror chief executive Simon Fox said, "This is a good day for local media.

"Local World is a business we know and respect and by combining it with Trinity Mirror we will create an organisation of scale, with the talent and financial capacity to invest and adapt to the rapidly changing media landscape.

"It is a vote of confidence in local press and its future." Local World, established in 2012 is one of the country's biggest news publishers.

Including the Leicester Mercury – with its editorial, advertising and online operations in St George Street, Leicester – Local World owns 83 newspapers, with 16 regional dailies, 36 paid weekly titles and 29 free weekly titles.

Leicestermercury.co.uk is among Local World's online operations which attracts 24 million unique browsers a month.

The publisher of the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror would become the owner of 183 newspaper titles around the UK with the acquisition of 80 per cent of shares it did not already own in Local World for £154.4 million in cash.

The £187.4-million deal will lead to the creation of the largest regional news group in the UK.

Fox said today, ''By bringing our two organisations together, we create not just the UK's largest regional news publisher but also bring together a unique combination of regional and national brands''.

''We have launched new titles in print and re-launched many others and our newspaper sales reflect the best circulation trends in the industry due to the focus we have placed on premium products and value.''