Reach, formerly known as Trinity Mirror, whose titles include the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express, has agreed a deal with Independent News & Media (INM) to to buy for an undisclosed sum the 50 per cent stake in the Irish Daily Star publisher Independent Star which it does not own. The deal is expected to be completed later this year, subject to competition approval.
Reach bought the first stake in Independent Star from Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell as part of a wider €144 million deal which involved the Express and Star newspapers and OK! magazine. The deal stipulated that any new directors Reach would appoint could have no role in the day-to-day running of any other area of the group’s publishing business.
In Ireland, Reach publishes the Irish Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and the Sunday People. It also owns RSVP magazine and the Dublin Live, Belfast Live, Cork Beo and RSVP Live websites. John ‘Jumbo’ Kierans recently retired as Daily Mirror editor after 25 years.
