Mafra a publishing house owned by Agrofert has agreed with German firm Bauer Media to take control of its Czech and Slovak assets, as announced at a press conference on Tuesday. Bauer, which publishes magazines like Cosmopolitan and Žena a život, sold 43 million publications last year and has a combined readership of 3.4 million.
The purchase strengthens Mafra’s control of the Czech media scene, and will require antitrust regulators to sign off on it. Agrofert was previously owned by Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who put its ownership in the hands of a trust, to avoid a conflict of interest.
