Hachette to Pay $712 Million for Diamandis --- Magazine Group Purchase Brings $300 Million Gain After Recent Buy-Out
French publishing giant Hachette S.A. and an associated company agreed to acquire Diamandis Communications Inc., a New York-based consumer-magazines publisher, for $712 million.</br></br>Diamandis is a joint venture between Prudential Insurance Co. of America and Peter G. Diamandis. The acquisition accord with Hachette, one of the world's largest magazine publishers, comes just days after Hachette agreed to acquire Danbury, Conn.-based Grolier Inc. for about $450 million.</br></br>Hachette's acquisitions reflect recent efforts by several European publishing groups to gain a foothold in the U.S., where, unlike many European markets, magazine publishing isn't dominated by one or two large companies.</br></br>All but one of Diamandis's 13 publications were part of CBS Inc.'s magazine division until last October, when Mr. Diamandis and Prudential acquired them in a leveraged buy-out for about $650 million. Diamandis's flagship publication is Woman's Day; it also publishes Car & Driver and other special-interest magazines.</br></br>"This has to be the world's record in (leveraged buy-out) turnarounds," said Mr. Diamandis, who is president and chief executive officer of Diamandis Communications and formerly president of the CBS magazine unit. "It may not be the biggest or the best, but it's certainly the fastest."