Cult Beauty owner THG looks to buy City AM newspaper

A deal between online health and beauty retail group THG and business newspaper City AM could be reached within the next 24 hours, the BBC understands.

THG, which owns brands including Cult Beauty and LookFantastic, is seeking to buy the paper in a pre-pack administration process.

The free London-based newspaper was put up for sale earlier in July after it was impacted significantly by the pandemic and a reduction in commuters.

THG declined to comment on the deal.

It is understood that City AM and its owners have been working with advisers from corporate finance firm BDO regarding the insolvency process.

Speaking to the BBC, managing director Lawson Muncaster who owns around a quarter of the paper, said: "I am pretty confident that the deal is imminent and from my perspective I am delighted.

"THG can help us in the technology and online space, and that is something we have not been able to do ourselves because of capital issues."

While the retailer has never owned a newspaper, it does have an online publishing businesses with its two magazines having a readership of around 600,000 a month.

THG's previous experience in online publishing makes Mr Muncaster optimistic about the the future of City AM.

"We can draw on THG's expertise and given they are a global business this is a chance to get our content out on an international level."

He added that THG, as a "pro-business, pro-libertarian" business, were committed to the editorial independence of the paper and would not be closing the print arm of the company.

It is understood that any deal would secure the future of City AM's roughly 40-strong workforce.

City AM, which has been running for 18 years, has a monthly online readership between 1.8m and 2m, with more than three-quarters in the UK, and print circulation of 67,714.It is distributed from about 400 travel hubs and commuter locations, as well as about 1,600 London offices.The move would be widely seen as a slightly new direction for Manchester based THG, which primarily runs ecommerce brands and platforms for third parties.THG also holds content syndication partnerships with firms including Google and Bloomberg.