Nine completes sale of ACM mastheads

Nine Entertainment has completed the $115 million sale of its regional and community newspaper division.

Nine Entertainment has completed the $115 million sale of its ACM mastheads. (AAP)

Nine Entertainment has completed the $115 million sale of its regional and community newspaper division to former Fairfax executive Antony Catalano and ASX-listed Thorney Investment Group.

Nine announced in April it had found a buyer for the 170 or so Australian Community Media and Printing titles it acquired in last year's $4 billion merger with Fairfax, which include the Canberra Times, The Newcastle Herald and agricultural publication The Land.

Nine on Monday told the ASX it had received $105 million in cash for the ACM mastheads with a further $10 million to be paid over the coming 12 months.

Mr Catalano spent 26 years with Fairfax and was chief executive of Domain for four years, leading the property classifieds business through its 2017 spinoff from Fairfax into a separately listed business.

He quit in January 2018 and failed in a last-ditch attempt in Federal Court to prevent the merger between Fairfax and Nine by buying a blocking stake in the old newspaper publisher.

Nine retains Fairfax's metropolitan titles including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review.

Shares in Nine were worth $1.875 before trade opened on Monday.