Daily Mail to Spin Off Euromoney Stake to Shareholders

(Bloomberg) -- The owner of Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper will distribute its stake in the publisher of Euromoney magazine to shareholders and pay a special dividend of 200 million pounds ($265 million) as part of an overhaul that will result in Chairman Lord Rothermere tightening his grip on the company.

Lord Rothermere, also known as Jonathan Harmsworth, won’t subscribe to the Euromoney offering, meaning his family’s stake in Daily Mail & General Trust Plc will increase to 36 percent from 24 percent. He already controls the company’s voting shares.

Daily Mail said the total distribution is worth 896 million pounds, a boost for investors who’ve seen the value of their holding slide amid declining newspaper sales and what the company in November called “challenging” media conditions. The stock peaked way back toward the beginning of the century.

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