The £70mn-revenue Mark Allen Group (MAG), of the UK, is set to acquire the B2B magazine long known as Estates Gazette. The potential deal comes just three weeks after RELX announced the magazine’s closure, following the failure of a protracted sale process throughout much of the year. MAG is in exclusive negotiations until the end of January. It is believed to have agreed to pay some £2mn for the £3.5mn-revenue EG magazine, separately from the £8mn commercial property data business which RELX is expecting to sell to one of its direct competitors.
The privately-owned MAG is preparing to transfer about 12 (50%) of the existing EG team which, even with some ‘new’ overheads, is expected to make the magazine profitable for the first time in four years. Its current revenue is believed to divide some 40:40:40:20 between subscriptions, advertising and events, although ad bookings will have been affected by the closure announcement.
After the acquisition, MAG is expected to restore the 166-year-old brand name Estates Gazette (formerly one of the best-known and most profitable B2B magazines in the UK) seven years after it was renamed, curiously, as “EG”.
It is the privately-owned company’s fourth acquisition from the former Reed Business Information after The Optician, Community Care and – its largest brand – Farmers Weekly. It is believed that the four former RELX brands (which will have been acquired for a total of some £20mn) will next year account for almost 30% of MAG revenue.
The deal signals an end to the curious story of an M&A process that seemingly failed because RELX had tried to sell the whole EG business, whereas MAG had wanted to acquire only the magazine and others were interested only in the data services. Even so, the announcement that the business (having failed to find a buyer after nine months of trying) was simply going to close in 2025 was a shock for employees and industry alike. It was an uncharacteristically clumsy process by a company with a previously impressive post-digital track record of magazine divestments and protecting the jobs of employees.
To underline the surprise of this week’s rescue by MAG, former longtime Estates Gazette editor Peter Bill yesterday filed a valedictory feature commissioned for the previously planned January 25 final edition. Ironically, that is likely now to be the date when MAG takes over.
For Mark Allen Group, the acquisition of a once-formidable B2B brand (for which RELX paid £59mn some 30 years ago) will contribute yet more optimism to its 40th anniversary in 2025.
Many of its brands are, though, much older. Apart from Estates Gazette (established 1858, two years before MAG’s The Engineer), Farmers Weekly recently celebrated its 90th anniversary, Optician and The Gramophone are 133 and 101 years old respectively, and Nursery World is 100 in 2025. A big year for a publisher which has been good at rehabilitating under-loved print-centric brands.
| SnapShot Mark Allen Group | ||||
| £mn | 2024* | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
| Rev | 70 | 66 | 60 | 44 |
| Ebitda | 10 | 13 | 13 | 10 |
| Margin | 14% | 19% | 22% | 23% |
| People | 540 | 477 | 443 | 451 |
