Mecom given breathing space to pay off £500m debt

LONDON - Mecom, the troubled European newspaper group run by former Mirror Group chief David Montgomery, has been given more time to pay down its near £500m debt pile.

Berliner Zeitung: sold by Mecom to raise money
Berliner Zeitung: sold by Mecom to raise money

The company said its banking covenant, or borrowing terms, originally set for the end of December last year, has been extended from 31 March to 30 April.

It has also agreed to move a repayment of £30.6m to former partner, Veronis Suhler Stevenson, back a month to 12 May.

The company said it did not have to pay a fee for either of the transactions.

VSS and Mecom clubbed together to buy Berliner Verlag, the publisher of the Berliner Zeitung and the Berliner Kurier, in 2005.

Mecom, which owns titles in Scandanavia, Poland and the Netherlands, has looked to sell off parts of the business in a bid to raise money in recent months.

In January, it sold its German publishing operations, along with 10 websites, for about £135m.

In March, the group warned of heightened volatility in advertising markets, adding that it would have to make additional cost cuts to help offset falls in ad revenue.

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