Wednesday 30 October 2019 5:55 pm

Private equity firm Epiris to sell TI Media for £140m

ANTWERPEN, BELGIUM – MARCH 03: A detailed view of books and magazines with brands like jeep, ford, landrover, porsche, vw, norton, renault, vespa and corvette during the The 40th Antwerp Classic Salon run by SIHA Salons Automobiles and held at Antwerp EXPO Halls on March 3, 2017 in Antwerpen, Belgium. 350 exhibitors and participants from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Austria, the USA, Great Britain, Sweden and Switzerland will be showing classic cars, engines, restoration equipment and supplies, new and used accessories, interiors, maintenance materials, literature, models, objects of art with the theme “classic cars” plus club stands and museums. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

British private equity firm Epiris will sell Country Life magazine owner TI Media to Bath-based media company Future for £140m, it announced today.

Epiris bought TI Media, then called Time Inc UK, from US media group Meredith in February 2018 in a deal thought to be worth around £130m.

Under Epiris, TI Media undertook a cost-cutting drive during which it sold several titles, including music site NME.com and its portfolio of comics.

Marcus Rich, chief executive of TI Media, said: “Epiris’s expertise has been invaluable in bringing direction and momentum to TI Media’s transformation journey.

“Future is a business that shares our vision for growth and innovation, and I am confident that TI Media’s portfolio of iconic brands will continue to thrive as part of the Future family.”

Alex Fortescue, managing partner of Epiris, said: “We acquired TI Media in a complex corporate carve-out and have since focused on implementing a transformation plan based on the Epiris toolkit of strategic focus, operational improvement and M&A.

“This has allowed us to achieve a strong return in less than two years.”

More to follow.