Wetzlar — The merger of Wetzlardruck GmbH and Gießener Anzeiger Verlags GmbH, which belongs to the VRM Group, creates the daily newspaper publisher with the highest sales and circulation in Central Hesse. Gleiss Lutz advised Mainz-based VRM Holding GmbH & Co. KG, one of Germany’s widest-reach regional media houses, on its investment in the new company. In addition to the VRM Group, Schnitzler Verlags- und Kinne Beteiligungs-GmbH, based in Wetzlar, is also a shareholder. With this investment, VRM is expanding its involvement in the media market in Central Hesse and further developing its service structure there.
VRM, based in Mainz, reaches nearly one million readers with its 28 daily newspapers in the Rhine-Main region. The associated Gießener Anzeiger Group alone achieves a daily reach of around 140,000 readers with its daily newspapers, plus advertising papers for Central Hesse with a weekly circulation of around 500,000 copies. VRM also reaches around 1.6 million unique users and over 485,000 social media users.
Zeitungsgruppe Lahn Dill/Wetzlardruck GmbH is the leading regional media company in western Hesse. The newspaper group publishes various regional daily newspapers, which together reach almost 180,000 readers. The newspaper group also publishes two advertising newspapers, each with a circulation of 150,000 copies. The joint Internet portal www.mittelhessen.de and the news app [m]-news provide constantly updated information. With over 4 million page views per month, the portal and app reach more than 350,000 unique users.
Advisors to VRM Group: Gleiss Lutz
A Gleiss Lutz team led by Dr. Detlef Bauer (Partner, Lead, Corporate/M&A) and Dr. Wolfgang Bosch (Partner, Antitrust, both Frankfurt) provided comprehensive advice to VRM on the transaction.