Mercury Capital will continue to publish New Zealand Listener despite selling off a swag of other titles it had purchased when Bauer decided to pull out of NZ
The weekly current affairs title was one of several Mercury had tried to sell following its purchase of magazine giant Bauer’s Australasian assets.
The German publisher confirmed the sale in June, without disclosing the price, after the Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column reported a less than A$50 million deal.
A spokesperson for Mercury said an acceptable price for NZ Listener could not be found, so Mercury has decided to keep publishing it.
He could not confirm whether editor Pamela Stirling had been rehired as a result, and Stirling could not immediately be reached for comment. The NZ Listener’s subscription liability was valued at $1.5 million.
Sydney-based Mercury said it had sold North & South to Konstantin Richter and Verena Friederike, and Metro to Simon Chesterman. Chesterman was a pioneer of streaming company Coliseum Sports.
In a statement, experienced writers and North Shore residents Richter and Friederike said they would bring back North & South as soon as possible, and said it would thrive as an independent publication.
NEXT, Taste, Fashion Quarterly, HOME and Simply You are still up for sale.
Still publishing
Along with NZ Listener, Mercury will continue to publish Woman’s Day, New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, and The Australian Women’s Weekly NZ, along with Your Home & Garden and Air New Zealand magazine KiaOra.
Readers who missed issues will have them added to their subscriptions, and delivery will resume in September.
Stuart Dick will become general manager and Sarah Henry editorial director of Mercury Capital’s NZ business, which is expected to hire 40 people, with operational support coming from Australia.
Mercury is sticking with the name Bauer for now, but indicated it will rebrand in the coming months. The firm is run by New Zealander Clark Perkins and backed by NZ millionaire Craig Heatley.
Perkins set up Mercury 10 years ago and has raised more than A$1 billion across three funds through that time. He could not be reached at press time.
