Guardian Media Group and private equity group Apax Partners are taking £50m each out Trader Media Group – the publisher of Autotrader which they jointly own.
According to a report on Guardian.co.uk, the “special dividend” will be used by GMG to offset losses in its cash and investment fund, which fell from £260.8m to £197.4m in the year to April.
According to The Guardian, the one-off dividend came about after GMG and Apax decided against a flotation or sale of Trader Media Group last year. It reports that TMG announced a £150m loan extension in June. The additional £50m will be retained by TMG for investment.
GMG owns 50.1 per cent of Trader Media Group, having sold 49.9 per cent of the business to Apax in a 2007 deal which valued it at £1.35bn.
GMG announced pre-tax losses of £54.5m on turnover of £255.1m for the year to April at the start of this month.
Trader Media Group’s figures were not included in this total. It reported an operating profit of £120.1m.
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