According to Internet Media: MONTREAL—Yellow Media Inc. has reached an agreement to sell Trader Corp., owner of Auto Trader magazine and other publications, for $745 million to a global private equity firm.
The Montreal-based publisher of the Yellow Pages print and online directories said Trader Corp. will be acquired by London-based Apax Partners.
The Trader division is home to various classified advertisement publications and websites including Auto Trader magazine and the New Home Guide.
Yellow Media has been transforming itself into a digital company to extend its reach with consumers and advertisers.
“This divestiture is attractive for our shareholders and will allow us to deploy capital in our core business, helping accelerate our digital transformation while further strengthening our capital structure,” said president and CEO Marc Tellier.
“As Canada’s number one Internet company, we want to focus our efforts on the acceleration of our digital transformation via our Yellow Pages 360 Solution,” Telliler said in a news release.
Trader Corp. owns about 160 print publications and 22 websites in the areas of automotive, real estate, general merchandise and employment.
Yellow Media estimates it has about one million readers a week across the publications and 3.5 million unique visitors to its websites each month.
The sale of Trader Corp. is expected to close in June, pending regulatory and other approvals.
Last year, Montreal-based Yellow Media made several acquisitions including engine and directory publisher Canpages for $225 million deal, and Clear Sky Media Inc., owner of bargain hunting site RedFlagDeals.com, technology shopping comparison site PriceCanada.com, and Scarlett Lounge.
