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News, features and resources for media and publishing professionals. Wednesday, February 2, 2000 Blogs | Subscribe | Interviews | Events | Films | Book Blog Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs The BBC and Veronis Suhler To Develop U.S. Consumer Media Company BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc. and New York merchant banking firm Veronis Suhler have formed a joint venture to build a major new U.S. publishing-based consumer media company. The new venture will initially focus on acquiring consumer lifestyle and informational publishing properties with cross-media expansion potential. It will incorporate the BBC's existing and future North American businesses in publishing including video, books and magazines. The 50-50 joint venture is being capitalized at $100 million of equity. BBC Worldwide Americas participates as the North American subsidiary of BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Veronis Suhler is funding its share of the new venture through the firm's $1 billion private equity media buyout fund, VS&A Communications Partners III. The BBC is the third largest publisher of magazines in the UK as well as being one of the UK's largest publishers of books and videos. "Our plan is to bring together profitable companies that are known for their strong editorial content and provide them with the resources to expand their brands, while exploiting opportunities for multi-media and new product development," explained James P. Rutherfurd, executive vice president of Veronis Suhler and head of the firm's investment banking group. "We are developing opportunities--both direct acquisition and partnerships--with existing publishing groups across a number of media segments where we believe we can build significant franchise value," Rutherfurd said. Rutherfurd said the continuing vitality of the U.S. media market allows ample room for new participants, especially one drawing on the inherent strength of the BBC as a partner. "The BBC is an international media powerhouse -- with its global brand development in place through BBC Worldwide in the UK and rapidly expanding beyond," he said. Click here to return to the homepage of The Write NewsTM Click here to subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter. www.writenews.com Copyright © 1997-2007 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved.