'50 is the new 21': finance house backs Condé Nast rival to 'Saga'

Condé Nast, the upmarket publisher behind Vanity Fair and GQ, is launching a new title this autumn for the over-50s.

Condé Nast, the upmarket publisher behind Vanity Fair and GQ, is launching a new title this autumn for the over-50s.

2 magazine, which is backed by investment boutique Cavendish Corporate Finance, is aimed at the baby-boomer generation. The monthly publication, which will go on sale at £3.95 in September or October, has an initial circulation target of 100,000; the break-even figure is around 150,000 per month. Matthew Guarante, a former financial journalist, has been appointed executive editor.

Cavendish's chairman, Ken Burgess, said the magazine would fill a niche in the market for older readers who are too young to read Saga.

"The baby-boomer market is huge - 50 is the new 21," he said. "We are appealing to grown-up kids and will be fun, non political and informative. Publications like Saga are aimed more at readers in the 70s age bracket, interested in things like stair lifts."

2 will be aimed at men and women aged between 50 and 65, covering relevant issues like health, travel, style, property and personal finance.

An internet-based radio station, also called "2", will be launched at the end of next year to complement the magazine.

These initiatives form part of a wider "second lifestyle" investment strategy masterminded by Cavendish and aimed at the 50-plus market. This includes developing residential and sporting complexes, initially in South Africa, for the estimated six million older north Europeans looking to move to warmer climes over the next 10 years. Similar projects are being planned for the Caribbean.

Cavendish is looking to raise £3m from venture capitalists and private investors to back the project. Mr Burgess and fellow directors have already invested £2.5m.

An estimated 80 per cent of the total private wealth in the UK is held by people over 50, with a collective disposable income of £240bn.