Bonnier Morning Paper Divests Local Papers in Southern Sweden

Bonnier Morning Paper has taken the decision to sell its shares in the three southern Sweden local daily newspapers Kristianstadsbladet, Ystads Allehanda and Trelleborgs Allehanda that are currently a part of the SDS Group.

In 2008, Skånemedia was formed when three smaller local newspapers and Malmö-based Sydsvenskan were pulled together under one company. The purpose of the merger was to take advantage of synergies in the southern Sweden market.

As Bonnier Morning Paper has refined its strategy to concentrate on big city press, a decision has been made to sell parts of the former Skånemedia. Bonnier's morning newspaper operations will continue to focus on Sydsvenskan and City in Malmö/Lund as well as Dagens Nyheter in Stockholm.

Current minority shareholder Kristianstadspress Foundation (Stiftelsen Kristianstadspress) will remain as long-term owner of Kristianstadsbladet, Ystads Allehanda and Trelleborgs Allehanda. The foundation has signed a letter of intent with Gota Media to become majority owner of the three papers.

"The three daily newspapers involved maintain a high quality of writing and newsworthiness, without a doubt," says Ulrika Saxon, CEO for Bonnier Morning Paper. "But in light of our decision to focus on morning newspapers in big cities, there is a better long-term owner of the three newspapers than us."

Say Johan Larsson, acting CEO for the SDS Group: "Sydsvenskan and Skånemedia both need to improve their profitability. I believe each company will do its best from its own perspective. Sydsvenskan needs to focus more on its core business, and Skånemedia surely will find greater synergies with other similar local newspapers."

"I believe Gota Media will be a good owner and partner for us," says Jörgen Svensson, responsible under Swedish press law for Kristianstadsbladet, Ystads Allehanda and Trelleborgs Allehanda. "They have strong experience owning and running local newspapers. And there are still differences between big-city newspapers and smaller local papers."

"Gota Media's core business is the publication of subscription-based local morning papers," says Bennie Ohlsson, CEO and President of Gota Media. "We strive to maintain diversity with local, engaging journalism as our cornerstone. Our core values are essentially the same as those of the Kristianstadspress Foundation. So we are pleased that we'll be working with the foundation and I'm convinced that it will be beneficial for the newspapers of Skånemedia."

Ulrika Saxon, CEO, Bonnier Morning Paper +46 (0)706-43 60 65
Johan Larsson, Acting CEO, SDS Group +46 (0)705-98 56 06
Jörgen Svensson, Responsible under Swedish press law, Trelleborgs Allehanda and Ystads Allehanda +46 (0)705-28 55 61