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Ascential completes portfolio trim

The media group has spent the last two years slicing away its unloved events and titles to focus on just its top-performing brands
December 13, 2017

Media group Ascential (ASCL) has found a buyer for MEED Media – the last of the divisions it had sidelined in February 2016 when it rejoined the stock market. These, so-called ‘heritage brands’ have been chipped away from the portfolio for the last few years as part of the strategy to focus on only the group’s best-performing events and titles.

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MEED Media has been bought by GlobalData (DATA) for $17.5m (£13.1m). This will help slice a little off Ascential’s net debt position – which stood at $211m in June 2017 – and remove MEED’s $1.7m net liability from the balance sheet. GlobalData’s management said the acquisition provides expansion into the key Middle Eastern region.