14 Oct 2005

Fairfax Welcomes Clearance For Rodney Acquisition

Fairfax New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Joan Withers today welcomed the decision of the Commerce Commission giving clearance to the company to acquire the Times Media Group Limited mastheads the Rodney Times, the Coaster, the Outlook and associated assets.

``Fairfax proactively contacted the Commerce Commission at the time the purchase was contemplated, and is pleased to now have the blessing of the commission to proceed with the purchase,’’ Joan Withers said.

``The Rodney Times is a heritage masthead based at Warkworth in a tremendous growth area and Fairfax looks forward to being a part of the community there.’’

Commission chair Paula Rebstock said in a statement the Commission was satisfied that the proposed acquisition would not have, or would not be likely to have, the effect of substantially lessening competition.

Times Media Group is owned by the Cook family and was established in 1917.

Fairfax New Zealand Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian company John Fairfax Holdings Limited. In New Zealand the company publishes metropolitan newspapers the Dominion Post, The Press and Waikato Times, plus weekly newspapers the Sunday Star-Times and Sunday News, regional newspapers, suburban and community newspapers, and magazines including Cuisine, Autocar and NZ House and Garden.

ENDS

© Scoop Media