NOZ/mh:n takes over majority stake in East Frisian newspaper group ZGO

The media group NOZ/mh:n wants to take over the majority of the regional newspaper group Ostfriesland (ZGO). A corresponding contract has been signed, as NOZ/mh:n and ZGO announced. The contract stipulates that the Osnabrück media group will take over around 60 percent of the shares in the regional publishing house ZGO from Leer in Lower Saxony. In order for the takeover to become effective, the Federal Cartel Office must first approve it. The industry service “Kress” and other media initially reported.

According to its website, the NOZ/mh:n group includes more than 40 companies and employs more than 3,000 people. The group publishes, among other things, the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”.

ZGO: Local identity remains intact

The ZGO announced that it would remain a large, independent East Frisian media company. “The local identity and editorial independence will be retained.” Employment contracts remained unaffected by the takeover.

NOZ/mh:n group is expanding

The NOZ/mh:n group is taking over the shares from Siebe Ostendorp GmbH and Gerhard Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, as the ZGO announced. The remaining shares are owned by Robert Dunkmann and Dietmar Müller-Dunkmann. The purchase price was not mentioned.

The NOZ/mh:n Group wants to expand further with the planned takeover. She had already announced in May that she would take over the majority in the BruneMettcker media company in Wilhelmshaven.

In 2016, NOZ Medien - as the group was called at the time - bought the medien holding:nord group, which included more than 30 daily newspapers in Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.