Noerr advises Bauer Media Group on joint venture with Gruner + Jahr

01.03.2019

Noerr has provided Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG with extensive advice on a magazine distribution joint venture with Gruner + Jahr GmbH.

Bauer Verlag and Gruner + Jahr agreed to merge the single copy sales of print magazines business of DPV Deutscher Pressevertrieb GmbH, a Gruner + Jahr subsidiary, with VU Verlagsunion KG, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Group.

Hamburg-based Bauer Verlag is Europe’s largest magazine publisher and, with approximately 11,500 employees, one of the world’s leading media companies. Gruner + Jahr is also one of the largest publishing houses in Europe, having a presence in more than 20 countries. The company holds all shares in DPV Deutscher Pressevertrieb GmbH, a services company for the distribution of magazines and digital products.

As a result of this spin-off, VU Verlagsunion KG takes over from DPV Deutscher Pressevertrieb GmbH the print magazine single copy sales business for publisher customers not belonging to a corporate group.

The transaction is designed to create an attractive and highly effective distribution system for both parties’ media brands and thereby to permanently and substantially cut structural costs in the single copy sales sector. It is in particular intended to strengthen the parties’ market positions with lasting effect. Bauer Verlag and DPV Deutscher Pressevertrieb GmbH intend to establish long-term, mutually beneficial cooperation.

Advisors to Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG: Noerr LLP

Volker Land (Hamburg), Robert Korndörfer (Munich, joint lead), Silvia Sparfeld (Munich, all Corporate/M&A), Professor Karsten Metzlaff (Hamburg, Antitrust/Competition), Felix Muhl (Hamburg, Commercial), Florian-Felix Marquardt (Berlin, Tax), Jens Kunz (Frankfurt, Financial Supervisory), Torsten Kraul (Berlin, Telecommunications)

Associates: Vanessa Wüsthoff (Hamburg, Corporate/M&A), Wolfgang Wittek (Employment), Michaela Athmer (Commercial, both Hamburg), Julia Berdin (Berlin, Telecommunications), Stephan Reiss (Frankfurt, Financial Supervisory)