Endless, the Leeds-based £100m buyout and turnaround fund, purchased Encanta Media – part of collapsed publishing group Highbury House Communications – in January this year. It has sold the business to on-line publishing business Magicalia for £2.72m, representing a significant return on investment. Magicalia is partly owned by Encanta's management, Peter Harkness and Owen Davies.
Endless was launched at the end of last year by former Ernst and Young specialist Garry Wilson. The business paid an undisclosed sum for the hobby titles and provided working capital for future expansion.
Encanta is one of the UK's leading hobby and special interest consumer magazine publishers, with specialist titles including Gardens Monthly, The Woodworker and Popular Patchwork.
Christopher Clegg, investment director at Endless, said: "This has been an outstanding investment for us in such a short timescale. Peter introduced us to the opportunity and we were very keen to support him having worked successfully with him in the past. Not only does this current transaction provide a new platform for Encanta to develop its already successful business but it represents a significant milestone for the growth of Endless."
Magicalia operates around 40 websites and is acquiring Encanta as the basis for a printed media business.
Highbury House, the magazine publisher in which former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie had a 20 per cent stake, went into administration in January with debts of around £40m. The profitable Encanta division had a turnover of around £6m before Highbury's collapse.