[modeleng] Re: The latest on ME

Reading between the lines a bit, one might conclude that the publishing 
business was profitable but not enough so to service the debt someone stuck 
on it for unrelated reasons.  I've seen a number of such bankruptcies in the 
States, where the controlling stockholder causes the company to borrow large 
sums of money to buy him out.  Charles

> YORKSHIRE buyout firm Endless has rescued the special
> interest magazine business of collapsed publishing
> group Highbury House Communications.
> Endless, a Leeds-based £100m buyout and turnaround
> fund launched at the end of last year by former Ernst
> & Young insolvency specialist Garry Wilson, has paid
> an undisclosed seven-figure sum for a clutch of the
> UK's oldest hobby titles and provided working capital
> for future expansion.
> Yorkshire-based publishing entrepreneur Peter
> Harkness, previously chairman of Hull-based IT
> research firm the Butler Group, assisted Endless with
> the transaction.
> Highbury House, the magazine publisher in which former
> Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie owned a 20 per cent stake,
> went into administration last week with debts of
> around £40m.
> Since then SMD Publishing bought lads' magazine Front,
> film title HotDog and DVD World and its computer
> magazines were sold to Imagine Publishing for an
> estimated £7m.
> Highbury announced earlier this month that its 30
> gaming, technology, entertainment and special-interest
> titles would be put up for sale after talks with its
> lenders, Royal Bank of Scotland and Allied Irish Bank,
> collapsed.
> Mr MacKenzie spent about £1.5m on his stake in the
> company, becoming chairman and chief executive.
> But last month he admitted he had been "defeated" by
> debts of £29.5m and quit Highbury House.
> The business bought by Endless includes 45 staff based
> in Orpington, Kent, and has been renamed Encanta Media
> and publishes titles including The Woodworker,
> Practical Wood-worker, Model Boats, Gardens Monthly,
> Popular Patchwork, Model Engineering, Military
> Modelling and Radio Controlled Modelling and
> Electronics.
> The division had a turnover of around £6m before
> Highbury's collapse - and was profitable.
> Endless completed the transaction within 14 days of
> its first contact with the accountants who were
> assisting Highbury's board prior to the group's
> demise.
> Mr Wilson said: "We are delighted to have brought
> together the funding to secure the future of this
> quality, established business."
> Mr Harkness said: "The investment by Endless helps
> secure the future of a business that publishes some of
> the UK's oldest and best-loved specialist consumer
> magazines.
> "A key component of the deal was the speed with which
> Endless could act, as well as the professionalism of
> its advisory team."
>
> Alan

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