Featured Company News – New Media Investment Group Enters into an Agreement to Acquire Morris Publishing Group’s Assets

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LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / August 11, 2017 / Pro-Trader Daily takes a look at the latest corporate events and news making the headlines for New Media Investment Group Inc. (NYSE: NEWM), following which we have published a free report that can be viewed by signing up at http://protraderdaily.com/optin/?symbol=NEWM. The Company announced on August 09, 2017, that it has entered into an agreement to acquire many of the newspapers and related assets from Morris Publishing Group, LLC for $120 million. Morris Publishing Group is the newspaper division of Georgia-based Morris Communications. For immediate access to our complimentary reports, including today’s coverage, register for free now at:

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New Media to Acquire 79 Publications as well Digital Operations of Morris

As a part of the agreement, New Media is acquiring many US-based newspaper assets in the Morris portfolio located across Georgia, Florida, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, and Alaska. In total, New Media is acquiring 79 publications, which includes all eleven dailies, the largest of which are The Florida Times-Union (with a daily circulation of 44,750 and Sunday circulation of 68,591), The Augusta Chronicle (daily circulation of 26,862 and Sunday circulation of 31,682), and the Savannah Morning News (daily circulation of 21,588 and Sunday circulation of 26,048).

In addition to the print publications, the acquisition also includes Morris’s Main Street Digital group, all of Morris’ weekly and niche print products and all related websites and digital operations.

A Greater Portfolio for New Media Investment Group

Michael E. Reed, President and Chief Executive Officer at New Media expressed his excitement on welcoming Morris publications and their employees into his Company.

He shared how the Morris family has built and operated an amazing collection of local media assets for over 80 years. He stated that he felt honored that the Morris family had chosen New Media to uphold the rich tradition of journalism and innovation that they have established for so long. The transaction will expand the footprint of New Media Investment Group into new states and add some lucrative markets to its local media portfolio. He expects strong synergies from the two Companies and looks forward to the value creation opportunity from combining the portfolios of both.

Acquisition will enable Morris to Stay Competitive

William S. Billy Morris III, the Chairman of Morris Publishing, will continue as publisher of The Augusta Chronicle and will oversee editorial-page policy for the three Morris newspapers in Georgia. Morris Communications will still publish magazines, sell broadband services, and operate other business ventures. William stated that the Morris family has had great love and passion for journalism and the local communities since 1929. He also shared how every newspaper companies in America are battling trends and redirecting advertising dollars in the current scenario. According to him, it became necessary for the Company to become a part of a large newspaper group to build and maintain the necessary resources to compete in this highly competitive industry.

William also expressed his gratitude for all the friendships and business relationships that his Company has enjoyed for 70 years, and he also looks forward to the impact that the next generation will make.

Financial Details

The total purchase price has been fixed at $120 million. It is within New Media’s stated acquisition range of 3.5x – 4.5x the seller’s LTM as adjusted EBITDA;
The transaction will be funded with existing cash on the Company’s balance sheet;
New Media expects the transaction to be highly accretive to free cash flow with net synergies of $10 million-15 million;
The transaction is expected to close early in Q4 2017.

About New Media Investment Group

New Media is one of the largest publishers of locally based print and online media in the United States as measured by its 125 daily publications. The Company operates in over 555 markets across 36 states as on June 25, 2017. Its portfolio of products (as on June 25, 2017) include around 630 community publications and over 550 websites, which serve more than 225,000 business advertising accounts, and reaches over 21 million people on a weekly basis.

Last Close Stock Review

On Thursday, August 10, 2017, the stock closed the trading session at $13.63, dropping 1.80% from its previous closing price of $13.88. A total volume of 305.43 thousand shares have exchanged hands. New Media Investment’s stock price advanced 1.72% in the last one month and 6.32% in the past three months. The stock currently has a market cap of $714.48 million.

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