The two daily newspaper titles are to be sold to Zeitungsholding Hessen (ZHH), according to a statement released Friday by the current owner, the Frankfurt-based Fazit foundation.

ZHH is owned by the Ippen group as well as German media group MDV. According to the statement, the take-over must be approved by the Cartel Office, and an application will be made.

In addition to the newspapers, the printing plant Frankfurter Societäts-Druckerei as well as marketing company RheinMain.Media will also be part of the sale.

With the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), also part of Fazit’s portfolio, the Fazit group wants to shift its focus to a national strategy.

Publisher Dirk Ippen called the change of ownership a big vote of confidence in the future of the local newspaper market. “It is also the beginning of a close cooperation with the FAZ,” he said, adding that in the regional market, the marketing of Frankfurt’s newspapers would be kept under one umbrella.

With this take-over, the Ippen group continues to expand its media business in the German state of Hesse. The group already publishes several newspapers in the region, including the Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine (HNA) in Kassel, the Offenbach Post and the Hersfelder Zeitung.

In the past year, the company also forged a cooperation between the HNA and the Gießener Allgemeine. The Offenbach-based editorial team has been producing the main section for the Hanauer Anzeiger since 2016.

Dirk Ippen’s publishing group comprises more than 10 newspapers with a total circulation of 800,000 copies. These include, among others, Münchner Merkur and tz, Westfälischer Anzeiger based in Hamm as well as the Kreiszeitung in Syke, Lower Saxony, according to the Frankfurter Rundschau website.

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The various media channels of the Frankfurter Rundschau (source: FR).