Trinity Mirror agrees to buy competitor Local World for £220m

The deal will see the company become the UK's largest regional news outlet

Trinity Mirror chief executive Simon Fox (PA)

Newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror has agreed to buy rival Local World for £220 million, making it the UK's largest regional news outlet.

The deal will see Trinity buy the 80% of shares it does not already own in Local World for £154.4 million, and will allow it to make cost savings of £10 million to £12 million from its second year of ownership.

Trinity also owns the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror, the Daily Record and the People as well as local titles such as the Western Mail and the Liverpool Echo.

It added that it will raise around £35.4 million in a share sale as part of the financing for the deal, which will give it control of more than 200 titles.

Local World owns 83 print publications including 16 daily titles and 36 paid-for weeklies.

It said most of its titles cover the South West and Wales, London and the South East, and the Midlands and the North.

Trinity Mirror chief executive Simon Fox said: "This is a good day for local media. Local World is a business we know and respect and, by combining it with Trinity Mirror, we will create an organisation of scale, with the talent and financial capacity to invest and adapt to the rapidly changing media landscape.

"It is a vote of confidence in local press and its future."

Trinity has also agreed to sell a handful of titles in Cambridge and Hertfordshire to Iliffe parent Yattendon Group, which owns a 21.3% stake in Local World, for £15.8 million.

Local World group chief executive David Montgomery said: "Local World was founded three years ago with a clear vision to reinvigorate regional media with an unrelenting focus on our content, audience and advertisers.

"Local World is full of energy and talent and Trinity Mirror is acquiring a vibrant business with a strong future."

The local news group was formed through a merger of more than 100 titles from Daily Mail & General Trust's Northcliffe Media, and Iliffe News & Media - including the Nottingham Post and Cambridge News - in 2012.

PA