DLA Piper has advised Gruner + Jahr on the sale of its majority holding in the Indian MaXposure Media Group to Indian media entrepreneur Prakash Johari.

The Gruner + Jahr publishing group, which is headquartered in Hamburg, belongs to the Bertelsmann corporation, the largest media enterprise in Europe. With over 500 media activities, magazines and digital offerings in more than 20 countries and a foreign turnover share of 55 per cent, Gruner + Jahr is one of the largest international publishing houses in the world. In 2013, Gruner + Jahr generated a turnover of some 2.1 billion Euro with 10,800 employees.

MaXposure publishes general interest magazines in upscale segments, such as the magazines L’OFFICIEL, FHM, ESTETICA and DIABETIC LIVING. In addition, MaXposure is one of the top three corporate publishing houses in India, with publications including the in-flight magazine for AIR INDIA, the largest Indian airline, as well for the airline SPICEJET. Products also include the customer magazines of MERCEDES BENZ and NISSAN as well as the ICICI Prudential magazine. In addition to the title websites, MaXposure is also positioned in the digital sector with a broad portfolio of services.

The DLA Piper team led by partner Dr Benjamin Parameswaran (Corporate, Hamburg/Cologne) comprised partner Dr Daniel Sharma (Litigation & Regulatory, Munich) as well as the associates Sebastian Decker and Christopher Albien (both Corporate, Hamburg). In India, DLA Piper worked on this transaction together with a team from Amarchand & Mangaldas in New Delhi led by partner Vidyut Gulati.

The in-house legal team from Gruner + Jahr was managed by the Head of M&A and Legal Tilmann Kruse. The Gruner + Jahr business team was led by Alexandra Harrop, Director of Business Development Asia.