Experts welcome Bauer takeover of ACP

5 Sep 2012, 6:01 pm   -   Source: AAP
Industry experts say Bauer's takeover of ACP magazines is good news for the local media industry. (AAP)

Industry experts say Bauer's takeover of ACP magazines is good news for the local media industry. (AAP)

German media giant Bauer's takeover of ACP is good for the publisher and the local media industry, experts say.

Australian Consolidated Press (ACP) Magazines may soon be foreign owned, but media experts believe its takeover by German publishing giant Bauer could save the local publisher.

Nine Entertainment Company on Tuesday confirmed it would sell ACP Magazines, which includes its flagship Women's Weekly, to Bauer Media Group for an estimated $500 million.

While some initial reports of the sale focused on yet another Australian company falling into foreign hands, media experts believe the takeover is good for the troubled publisher and local media industry.

Former editor of The Australian Women's Weekly, Ita Buttrose, said Bauer's proven commitment to magazines in Europe, the US, China and Russia, meant ACP was in good hands.

"The Bauer company is a well-qualified, professional, family-owned business who are probably passionate about magazines, so it is a good thing that it's somebody who understands the business," she told AAP.

"I think the Germans have a very good reputation in publishing and printing. All things considered this is probably a very good thing as far as ACP is concerned."

She also doubted Bauer would tamper with the Australian character of the magazines.

"They're a professional company and they know what they're doing so they're not going to come in and suddenly change magazines or their character," she said.

"Certainly they might change their direction and they might have some ideas about how to get magazines to sell or how to do them better."

Fusion Strategy managing director Steve Allen said it was also good that ACP, originally owned by the Packer family, would once again be owned by a family business.

Sir Frank Packer founded the magazine empire in 1933, in the middle of the Great Depression.

Since then, its stable of titles has grown to include mass-selling magazines such as Cleo, Cosmopolitan, Woman's Day, TV Week, Dolly, Rolling Stone, and House & Garden.

Prior to the sale, ACP was owned by private equity firm CVC which bought Nine Entertainment in 2007.

"We hear from inside ACP that staff are very, very happy that they've got a global company of some repute and it's no longer venture capitalists that are only looking at the bottom line and their investment," Mr Allen said.

"It's really eased the tension from what we've heard and it's a family company, which originally ACP was."

Mr Allen said he believed Bauer had the experience to turn things around at the troubled publisher.

"In other markets like the US and the UK they've come in and had to fight to establish themselves and they've done it quite well," he said.

He said Bauer had also shown it was willing to invest in its new acquisitions and focus on their long term success.

"The Bauer company looks like its going to be a great addition to the media landscape here because they don't seem obsessed with profits," he said.

"They obviously want to make money but aren't obsessed by it, and they've got a longer term view."

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