Rzeczpospolita has a circulation of around 140,000 Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Control over the publisher of influential daily Rzeczpospolita has been sold for zł.80 million
Poland’s Gremi Media has bought London-based Mecom Poland Holdings, which owns 51 percent of Presspublica, publisher of titles including Rzeczpospolita, Życie Warszawy and Parkiet.

The zł.80 million transaction now has to be approved by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection before it can be finalized. A decision is expected to be made by September this year.

In an official statement Gremi Media said, “Rzeczpospolita is not only one of the leading daily newspapers in Poland. It is, first of all, an influential paper which the majority of executives, managers and politicians start their day with.” The paper has a circulation of about 140,000.

The founder and owner of Gremi Media, Krakow-born entrepreneur Grzegorz Hajdarowicz, said the transaction is a part of his company’s overall development strategy.

“Based on the titles we own we will develop the group towards the most modern media concern in Poland, using advanced technologies,” he said.

This is not the first such transaction that Mr Hajdarowicz has been involved in. In October 2001 he bought weekly Przekrój and monthly Sukces.

In 2010 Presspublica reported a net profit of zł.8.1 million on revenues of zł.220.9 million, Rzeczpospolita reported.

Mecom Poland Holdings is a subsidiary of Mecom Group, a European content and consumer business, which owns over 300 printed titles and 200 internet sites. The parent company has substantial operations in Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland.

In a statement the company said, “Mecom has taken the opportunity of an unsolicited proposal for its holding in Presspublica to sell this operation for cash on terms which it views as attractive, having regard to the trading outlook of Presspublica and a lack of alignment with Presspublica’s minority shareholder which Mecom believes may act as a constraint on the future development of the business.”

The minority shareholder is the Polish State Treasury, which owns 49 percent. Mr Hajdarowicz has said he will look to buy that share from the government. He hopes to repackage his media group, eventually floating it on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Despite being 49 percent owned by the Treasury, Rzeczpospolita’s editorial page takes a right-wing line that is often at odds with the government.

Barbara Gędek