Fate of New Zealand's magazine industry days away

Many of New Zealand's most popular titles remain on the chopping block. Photo / File.

The fate of some of New Zealand's best-loved magazines will be determined within the next week.

The deadline for the sale of the titles previously owned by Bauer Media has been pushed out to May 29.

The sales process is being managed by accountancy giant EY, which stepped in after it was announced that Bauer would be closing its local offices.

The closure of the organisation affected up to 250 jobs across the editorial, sales and design teams working on the magazines.

The Bauer stable of magazines included Metro, The Listener, North & South, Woman's Day, New Zealand Woman's Weekly and Home.

There was widespread concern that these titles and other Bauer titles would disappear from New Zealand entirely, but there are now encouraging signs that at least some will remain in circulation.

It's understood that a number of interested parties are currently going through due diligence in terms of acquiring parts of the business.

An industry source tells the Herald that although there was interest in selling all the titles to a single bidder, the sales strategy has shifted to selling the titles in four groups.

The groups are understood to include current affairs, women's interest, home and food.

Earlier it was speculated that there could be a management buyout at some of the titles but the sales strategy of clustering titles together now makes this highly unlikely.

"It would've been interesting to see what someone like long-time editor Pamela Stirling would've done with the Listener, Henry Oliver with Metro or Simon Farrell-Green with Home," the source said, expressing disappointment that no longer seemed likely.

One familiar name that has been associated with the sales negotiation process by several Herald sources is former Bauer chief executive Paul Dykzeul, who in May last year ended a 25-year tenure at the helm of the business.

The magazine stalwart declined to comment on the nature of his involvement in the process, but told the Herald today he was "extremely upset" about what happened at Bauer.

"We need to maintain a diverse media landscape," he told the Herald.

Dykzeul said he was confident that "a lot of the titles" would continue to be published under new ownership. He wouldn't provide details on which titles he was referring to.

One hint lies in the correspondence between the magazines and their subscribers in the past week. Metro and the Listener sent letters to readers explaining that their subscriptions would be renewed under new ownership.

Asked who those new owners might be or whether he was interested, Dykzeul said he wasn't in a position to comment.

Other speculation in the industry suggests transtasman investment firm Mercury Capital has been tyre-kicking parts of the Bauer business. Although Mercury has not responded to requests for comment, the organisation has an interest in Bauer continuing to print publications.

Mercury owns a 45 per cent share in printing company Webstar NZ, which previously counted Bauer as one of its bigger clients.

The closure of Bauer titles would come as big blow to a business that has already been put under strain by steady decline of print over the past decade.

It's understood prospective buyers are reluctant to comment on their involvement at this stage due to strict confidentiality agreements drafted by the team at EY.