Africa’s two premier daily business titles, South Africa’s Business Day and Nigeria’s Business Day are now linked through a transcontinental joint venture, Johnnic Communications said in a statement on Sunday.
Johncom — which has a 50% holding in Business Day in South Africa — has acquired a 51% interest in Business Day Media through West Africa Ltd — a joint venture between Johncom and Nigerian managed entity Capital Alliance Private Equity.
The remaining 49% of equity in Business Day Media Ltd is held by local Nigerian investors.
Johcom has concluded a management agreement with its Nigerian publishing counterpart to facilitate the expansion of both publications in core African markets. The two titles are separate entities — despite sharing the same name and masthead.
”This is a seminal event in recent African newspaper publishing,” Johncom CEO Connie Molusi said.
”We now have the basis for a common publishing platform linking two vital African markets: that of South Africa and Nigeria. We will strengthen this linkage in the coming months to the benefit of consumers of business content in both countries.”
Chairperson of Business Day Media Ltd Professor Pat Utomi said: ”This corporate combination is the beginning of the transformation of how the continent receives, processes and uses information to build strategic advantage and attain the growth that should see poverty decline.”
Johncom Africa Division CEO Brian Pottinger noted that new possibilities now opened up for the development of a common readership in the two countries.
”We will be concentrating on reinforcing each other in our respective markets and growing new markets across the continent.”
Publisher and founder of Business Day in Nigeria Frank Aigbogun said the tie-up reflects the rising confidence of foreign investors in Nigeria as a key market.
”With this partnership with a major player like Johncom, we can now go on to build Business Day Nigeria into one of the world’s best newspapers,” he said. – I-Net Bridge