Equity Firm Buys South Carolina Business PublicationsBack to News

CHARLESTON, SC, November 29, 2010 – A newly formed company led by a regional private equity firm has acquired a group of South Carolina business publications based in Charleston.

Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, a newspaper merger and acquisition firm in Santa Fe, New Mexico, represented the seller, Ohio Community Media, LLC, in the transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The new company, SC Business Publications LLC, bought the Charleston Regional Business Journal, GSA Business serving the Greenville-Spartanburg area, the Columbia Regional Business Report, SCBIZ Magazine and other business related publications, events and websites.

Virginia Capital Partners LLC, a Richmond, Virginia-based private investment group, provided the equity for the deal. Existing management will remain in their current roles. Grady Johnson was named president and will continue as group publisher.

“We are anxious to turn our focus to growth and serving the needs of the state’s business community. With the assistance of Virginia Capital, we look forward to continuing our mission as South Carolina’s media engine for economic growth,” Johnson said.

Founded in 1996, Virginia Capital Partners is focused in the south Atlantic region. Virginia Capital also is an investor in Virginia Business, a statewide monthly business publication.

Ohio Community Media took ownership of these and other publishing assets through a court-ordered Section 363 bankruptcy sale of the Brown Publishing Company’s assets earlier this year. OCM has been divesting former Brown Publishing business publications since taking ownership. OCM continues to own and operate a large portfolio of daily and weekly newspapers in western Ohio.

If you have further questions contact Dirks, Van Essen & Murray at 505-820-2700.