Landmarks
This page highlights acquisition and sale of media assets by investment funds such as Cinven, Providence Equity, Texas Pacific and CVC.
Context is provided by the broader communications and media timeline on this site and the more detailed note on the caslon.com.au site.
1984
KKR funds buyout of Wometco for US$1.07bn
1985
KKR funds buyout of Storer Communications for US$2.43bn
1986
Cinven supports Headline Book Publishing
1987
Wesray buys Six Flags for US$617m
1989
KKR establishes K-III Communications Corporation
K-III buys technical and trade publisher PRIMEDIA Business Magazines & Media Corporation
buys Macmillan Book Clubs
buys Intertec Publishing and Newbridge Communications for US$320m
1990
K-III buys specialized directories publisher International Thomson Transport Press from Thomson
Headline acquires Hodder & Stoughton, becomes Hodder Headline
1991
K-III buys Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedia from Field Publications
Hodder Headline lists on LSE
K-III buys Murdoch Magazines, publisher of New York, Soap Opera Digest, Soap Opera Weekly, Seventeen, Automobile, New Woman, Premiere and Daily Racing Form
Tourang consortium (Conrad Black and US merchant bank Hellman & Friedman Partners) gains control of Fairfax
1994
Ziff family sells 95% of Ziff-Davis Publishing to Forstmann Little for US$1.4bn
Weider sells American Physical Therapy, Weslo and ProForm Fitness to Bain Capital for US$270m
1995
Softbank buys 70% of Ziff-Davis, Inc. (publishing arm of Ziff-Davis Communications) from Forstmann Little for US$2.1bn
KKR funds £210m buyout of Newsquest from Elsevier
1996
KKR-III buys Westminster Press group from Pearson for £298m
Cinven buys ABC Cinemas
KKR-III buys Cahners Consumer Magazines from Elsevier, becomes Primedia
1997
Newsquest floated with market capitalisation of £500m
United Artists cinema chain bought by HMTF for US$850m
HMTF buys Grupo MVS (Mexican paytv) for US$120m
1998
HMTF acquires LIN TV in a US$1.9bn
Cinven acquires IPC from Reed International for €1.4bn
Cinven merges IPC with LH Media
KKR and HMTF buy Regal Cinemas (4,000 screens) for US$1.57bn
1999
Evercore Partners acquires American Media, Inc. for US$850m
HMTF sells Argentine cable tv operations to CEI Citicorp for US$225m
CVC acquires Netherlands publisher Veen
CVC acquires Bosch & Keuning book publisher, forms Veen Bosch & Keuning
2000
Willis Stein & Partners buys Ziff-Davis Inc magazines for US$780m
Rank sells Odeon cinemas to Cinven for £280m
2001
Purcell acquires Community Newspaper Co from Fidelity Investments for US$150m
BT sells Yell Directories to Apax and HMTF for £1.15bn
Forstmann Little buys Citadel for US$2bn
Hersant sells stake in Figaro to Carlyle
Loews Cineplex acquired by Onex and Oaktree Capital Management
Primedia buys emap usa (formerly Petersen Publishing) from EMAP for US$515m
Time Warner buys IPC Magazines from Cinven for £1.15bn
2002
Candover and Cinven buy Kluwer Academic Publishers for US$591m
American Media, Inc. and Evercore Partners agree to acquire Weider Publications, Inc. for US$350m
Onex acquires 58% of Mexico's Grupo Cinemex for US$190m
Carlyle sells stake in Figaro
Cinven buys Aprovia from Vivendi for €493m
Primedia sells Chicago magazine to Tribune for US$35m and American Baby Group to Meredith for US$115m
Vivendi sells Houghton Mifflin to Thomas H Lee, Blackstone and Bain consortium for US$1.66bn
Cinven, Carlyle and Apax buy MediMedia from Vivendi for €523m
Carlyle and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe buy QwestDex (later Dex) for US$7.05bn
2003
Cinven and Candover acquire BertelsmannSpringer for €1.05bn, merge Kluwer Academic Publishers and BertelsmannSpringer
Warner Music arm sold to consortium led by Edgar Bronfman for US$2.6bn
Deutsche Bank sells 19.4% of Axel Springer to Hellman & Friedman
Providence and Blackstone take stake in Freedom
Permira backs MBO of Premiere
United buys Aprovia UK from Cinven and Carlyle for £79m
Cinven sells Odeon and ABC cinemas to syndicate led by WestLB AG and the Entertainment Group for €628m
2004
Macquarie Bank buys Reg Grundy's 56% stake in RG Capital radio
Apax buys major stake in PCM Uitgevers
Dex lists on NYSE
Candover leads buyout of Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing
Bain Capital buys Canadian yellow pages for US$1.5bn
Carlyle buys AMC Entertainment
Apax and Spectrum Equity acquire a majority interest in NEP Broadcasting from Wachovia Capital Partners
Warner Music sells distributor The Entertainment Network (joint venture with Sony Music Entertainment) to Cinram network
VNU sells VNU World Directories arm for €2.1bn to Apax and Cinven
Apax and HMTF sell 34% holding in Yell to institutional investors for £720m
MediMedia sells Drug Information Services
2005
Proventus acquires 8% stake in Alma
Warner Music sells Warner Bros. Publications to Alfred Publishing
IPO of Premiere
Thomas H. Lee, Bain and Warner Music buy six talent management companies (inc Irving Azoff and Howard Kaufman) to form Front Line Management Companies, Inc.
Bain sells Advertising Directory Solutions to Yellow Pages Group for C$2.55bn
Cumulus Media Partners, LLC (Bain, Blackstone and Thomas H Lee ) acquire radio arm of Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff for US$1.2bn
Veen Bosch & Keuning sold to Noordelijke Dagblad Combinatie (NDC)
SBS acquired by KKR and Permira in deal valued at US$2.5bn
Primedia sells About.com to New York Times for US$410m
Yell Group buys TransWestern Holdings from Thomas H Lee, CVC and TransWestern Management for US$1.5bn
Apax acquires Hit Entertainment for £489m
MediMedia sells Trade Press & Services and MediMedia Academic Publishing
Bonnier and Proventus jointly acquire Alma's broadcasting division (inc Finnish TV channel MTV3, majority holding in Finnish radio station Radio Nova and 23.4% of Swedish TV4 AB) for €463m
Liberty Global sells UPC Norway to Candover for €463m
2006
Warner Music agrees to buy Ryko Corporation for US$675m from investment group led by J.P. Morgan Partners
KKR and Goldman Sachs pay €3.3bn for Pages Jaunes
Univision agrees to be acquired for US$11bn by private equity consortium that includes Haim Saban, Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group and Thomas H Lee Partners
Apax buys half of Lauder's stake in CME for US$190m
Valcon Acquisition consortium acquires VNU with US$9.7bn bid
CVC takes half stake in PBL Media as part of restructure of Packer interests
US Equity buys Penton Media from Abry Partners for US$530m
Cinven agrees to sell MediMedia USA Inc to Vestar Capital Partners
Apax buys Incisive Media for £199m
Forbes family sells 40% of Forbes Media to Elevation Partners for US$250m
Seven announces plan for joint venture with KKR to hold half its television and magazine interests
Houghton Mifflin acquired by Riverdeep for US$3.36bn (inc debt)
Primedia sells 17 outdoor magazines to InterMedia for US$170m
3i buys VNU European business magazines for €320m
2007
Ironbridge Capital pays NZ$386m for 70% of CanWest Media Works
New York Times agrees to sell its nine local tv stations to Oak Hill Capital Partners for US$575m
Blackstone's Merlin Entertainment acquires Tussauds Group from Dubai International Capital (DIC) for £1.03bn
Wolters Kluwer sells education arm to Bridgepoint Capital for €774m
Candover pays US$1.2bn for Spanish theme park operator Parques Reunidos
Macquarie Media Group buys American Consolidated Media for US$102m
GMG sells sells 49% of Trader Media to Apax for £674m
Thomson sells higher education, careers and library reference assets of Thomson Learning to Apax and Omers Capital Partners for US$7.75bn
Exponent sells TSL Education (Times Educational Supplement and Higher Education Supplement) to Charterhouse Capital Partners
EMI agrees to £2.4bn takeover by Terra Firma