MEDIACENTRAL ANNOUNCES LATEST MEDIA ACQUISITION PLUS MANAGEMENT CHANGES
Media Central Corporation Inc. has entered into a letter of intent to acquire all of the issued and outstanding securities in the capital of Lazarus Bleau Inc. (LBI), a media and marketing services company. With the acquisition of LBI, Media Central adds two new publications to the company's portfolio including premiere North American travel publication, The Travel Magazine (doing business as Horizon Travel & Lifestyle Magazine), and On the GO, a lifestyle commuter magazine distributed across the Greater Toronto Area. Additionally, the company announced the appointment of Larry Bleau, the president and publisher of Horizon Travel, as the chief executive officer of Media Central and the promotion of Kirk MacDonald to president. The Travel Magazine and On the GO join existing MediaCentral titles NOW Magazine, the Georgia Straight, cannabis-specialty platform Canncentral and ECentralSports, a site dedicated to reporting on the rapidly growing gaming industry.
Launched over a decade ago, Horizon Travel Magazine provides cutting-edge travel and lifestyle information to globetrotters throughout North America, with unique editions targeting Canada and the United States. Distributed through The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail and The Wall Street Journal, the magazine has a monthly readership of 305,000 according to MRP. On The Go had a monthly readership of 400,000 prior to COVID-19. Combined with Media Central's current monthly audience of 6.5 million this acquisition positions Media Central as a major player in the North American publishing world.
The acquisition and new management announcement follow recent changes to Media Central's board of directors. Toronto-area businessmen Manos Pavlakis and David Daniels and securities and corporate lawyer Jay Vieira replaced the previous directors, including the former CEO, following their resignation on Nov. 19.
"Under the leadership of industry veterans like Bleau and MacDonald we have the opportunity to focus on the steps necessary to drive effective change," said Mr. Pavlakis, the new chairman of the board. "This acquisition increases our audience and unites our now six publications with a powerful integrated sales team. With new leadership in place we are ready to focus on increasing shareholder value by effectively transforming Media Central into a profitable and successful business."
The appointment of Mr. Bleau as CEO and the promotion of Mr. MacDonald to president bring vast media knowledge and experience to Media Central's senior management team. Prior to acquiring Horizon Magazine, Mr. Bleau was the president of NRS Media, a global media consultancy with expertise in delivering sales strategies that result in substantial new revenue growth. Mr. Bleau worked directly with Canadian media brands like Corus Entertainment, Star Media Group and more, and will leverage his experience of increasing revenue growth in his new role. Mr. MacDonald has been an integral part of the NOW and Straight team for the past 2.5 years and prior to that was the former CEO of the Denver Post and vice-president for Hearst Newspapers.
"There is a tremendous amount of value and potential in both NOW and the Straight. Both are long-standing, well-respected publications, backed by smart and talented editorial teams. We are laser focused on developing the right strategies to drive revenue growth, the right culture to produce top-quality journalism and the right environment to revitalize a sales team that can collectively sell across all six of our publications. You can expect rapid growth for Media Central as we move into the new year," said Mr. Bleau.
Pursuant to the LOI, Media Central will acquire all of the issued and outstanding securities in the capital of LBI for an aggregate purchase price of $2-million. The purchase price will be satisfied through the issuance of an aggregate of 200 million common shares in the capital of the company at a deemed price of one cent per consideration share.
The proposed acquisition of LBI is a non-arm's-length transaction as Mr. Bleau is an officer of both Media Central and LBI. As such, the transaction is a related party transaction subject to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 -- Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions. Pursuant to MI 61-101, Media Central will be exempted from obtaining a valuation of LBI as the value of the consideration to be received by Mr. Bleau will be less than 25 per cent of the company's market capitalization.
About Media Central Corporation Inc.
Media Central is an alternative media company situated to acquire and develop high-quality publishing assets, starting with the recent acquisition of Vancouver Free Press Corp., the purchase of Now Communications Inc., and the launch of digital cannabis platform CannCentral and e-sports outlet ECentral Sports. Media Central is consolidating and digitally monetizing over 100 million coveted and premium consumers of the approximately 100 alternative urban publications across North America, creating the most powerful audience of influencers.
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