NRC Handelsblad auctioned off to new owner

NRC Media, the publisher of NRC Handelsblad, nrc.next and their websites, including English language NRC International, is being sold to private equity firm Egeria and TV channel Het Gesprek.

After Belgian newspaper tycoon Christian van Thillo in March obtained a majority share in Dutch publishing group PCM, he was told by anti-trust authorities to hive off one of its newspapers. NRC Handelsblad’s management immediately said it would support its sale, as this would put an end to an undesirable situation where it was part of the same media group as its main competitors on the Dutch newspaper market.

Van Thillo's Persgroep accepted a bid by Egeria and Het Gesprek on Friday, after a controlled auction of NRC Media . The purchase amount has not been released but is estimated at about 70 million euros.

Egeria is a Dutch private equity investment fund set up by the wealthy Brenninkmeijer family, which made its fortune through the C&A clothing retail group. Het Gesprek is a commercial television channel focused on interviews. It was co-founded by Derk Sauer, who set up the Moscow Times and other publications in Russia.

NRC's staff of 300 gave its blessing to the deal on Sunday. Although the journalists didn’t have veto power, they did have advisory rights. Chief editor Birgit Donker told them she was "relieved and elated" because the new owners have endorsed NRC Media's current strategies. "Our journalistic autonomy will be fully guaranteed by this new owner," Donker said.

NRC management and employees were worried their newspapers could again fall victim to a venture capital firm, as happened between 2004 and 2007. British private equity fund Apax came and went and as PCM's majority shareholder and put the company 120 million euros in debt.

Jochen van Barschot, who represented the employees in the negotiations with the new owner, said he is not afraid history will repeat itself. "Our independence has been guaranteed, the bid is financed conservatively and all our demands were met. More could not reasonably be expected."