Culture minister could intervene in Trinity Mirror-Northern & Shell deal
Culture minister Matt Hancock has said today that he is “minded” to intervene in Trinity Mirrors acquisition of Express owner Northern & Shell.
Hancock, the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS), said that he had informed both parties that he was “minded” to intervene on grounds of “public interest considerations”.
Hancock identified two potential public interest grounds: the potential impact on editorial decision making and the need for a sufficient plurality of views in newspapers.
Read more: Trinity Mirror buys Express owner for £127m
He said that in coming to the decision he had taken into account that the merged business would own the largest share of national newspaper titles in the UK, owning nine out of 20 national titles, and also become the second-largest national newspaper organisation by daily circulation with a 28 per cent share among daily and Sunday titles.
Trinity Mirror chief executive Simon Fox said: "This is a part of the process that we were aware was possible following our acquisition of the Northern & Shell publishing assets. We continue to believe there are no plurality or competition issues.
"We would expect any review by Ofcom arising from this DCMS statement would happen in parallel with the CMA review, which we expect to conclude by the 7th June 2018."
The competition and markets authority (CMA) has also launched an investigation into the competition aspects of the merger.
Any decision to intervene would require communications watchdog Ofcom to report on the public interest considerations and the CMA to report on jurisdictions.
Read more: Trinity Mirror's Express takeover slowed by regulator probe
Hancock said he had invited written representations from the parties and would come to a final decision on whether to intervene in the merger shortly.
The £126.7m deal was announced in February, potentially marking the end of billionaire press proprietor Richard Desmonds 18-year association with some of Britains most popular newspaper and magazine titles.
Northern & Shell owns titles such as the Daily Star and Sunday Express as well as the celebrity magazine OK.
Northern & Shell and has been contacted for comment.
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