The company behind the Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post has backed out of a potential deal to buy Reach, which owns the Mirror, Express and Star as well as hundreds of regional titles.
National World said there would have been “considerable industrial and financial advantages to combining the newspaper portfolios of the two companies,” but concluded the circumstances were not right.
The company said it had already received “in principle financial support from within the investment community to fund a potential deal”.
Earlier this month the company had announced it was exploring a potential tie-up between the two publishers. It had not yet approached the board of Reach at that point.
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Executive chairman David Montgomery said on Wednesday: “National World has ambitious and fully fledged plans to grow our business, creatively and through acquisitions and partnerships. Our key goal is to continue to build a vibrant content business and we will do that.
“A combination with Reach could unlock very significant operational value for both companies, but not all the elements required to ensure a successful transaction were present.
“Rather than create unwanted management distractions for both companies and our respective shareholders, we have decided not to proceed with any discussions at this stage.
“We will focus on pursuing initiatives where we see clear value creation opportunities, primarily relating to content and technology-driven customer initiatives, facing the challenges with which all in the sector must contend.”
National World is the third biggest regional publisher in the UK after Newsquest bought Archant earlier this year. Reach is the biggest commercial news publisher in the country.
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