Argentinians buy El Diario parent
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La Nación, Argentina’s second-largest daily paper, has acquired majority control of Impremedia — the Spanish-language newspaper company that includes El Diario/La Prensa in New York — from its private-equity owners.
The Buenos Aires-based daily will operate the company through its newly formed subsidiary, US Hispanic Media. Eduardo Lomanto will be president in charge of the unit, which also includes La Opinión in Los Angeles.
El Diario/La Prensa has seen its circulation tumble in recent years. The acquisition comes at a particularly turbulent time for El Diario, which just axed 17 of the 66 union jobs covered by the Newspaper Guild.
Impremedia’s current executive team is going to continue to remain intact, including CEO Monica Lozano, El Diario Publisher Rossana Rosado and Executive Editor Erika Gonzalez.
Clarity Partners, BMO Halyard Partners, ACON Investments and Knight Paton Media, which expanded Impremedia with the hope of tapping into the burgeoning Hispanic market in the US, only to see their plans unravel, will now be keeping only a minority stake.
Terms of the deal, first reported by Media Ink, were not disclosed. But La Nación said it has become Impremedia’s “strategic and controlling shareholder.”