Germans Take Control Of Australian Rolling Stone And Empire

German company Bauer has completed a swoop of Australian Consolidated Press from Australian company Nine Entertainment Group in a deal that is alleged to be worth $500 million.

ACP publishes the local editions of music and movie mastheads Rolling Stone and Empire, as well as well known brands such as Australian Women's Weekly, Cleo, Zoo Weekly and Wheels.

Today a Rolling Stone editor told theMusic.com.au that they had been instructed not to comment on the sale and it is unclear what impact the sale will have on the titles.

Heavy debt burdens on Nine prompted the sale of the in-transition company, which has been struggling with decreasing ad revenue. Bauer are believed to be willing to ride out the internal restructures.

The Australian's media columnist Mark Day told the ABC, “I would imagine it would be Bauer's intention to continue to publish [the current titles], and maybe you'll see the introduction of some of their other, more profitable titles from overseas.

Nine's private equity owners CVC Capital have a $2.8 billion debt that must be paid by February next year, and Day added, “Nine was asking $600 million and they were adamant that they weren't going to sell if they didn't get their price. Well the word around the traps, what we're hearing is that it was $500 million.

"I think that indicates that Nine was pretty desperate to sell because they went into this deal carrying $2.8 billion in debt. They'll pay this $500 million or thereabouts to pay off the debt. Well they've still got $2.3 billion which has to be refinanced by February next year.”