Insvolvent Publisher Factory IP Media’s Assets Sold. Whitelines Lives On

The IP assets of Factory Media have been sold by Metis Partners, the award-winning IP valuation firm, for a substantial six-figure sum. This sale not only recovered significant value for creditors but also saved a number of high-level jobs, as well as pleasing the 5 million readers of Factory Media’s 15 specialist publications.

The key to this successful IP sale was the swift action of insolvency practitioners, Chamberlain & Co, in engaging Metis Partners. This quickly enabled the IP to be assessed, packaged, marketed and sold within a tight timeframe.

Aylin Dzhafer, Senior Manager, Corporate Recovery & Restructuring at Metis Partners, said: “The swift sale of Factory Media’s IP has generated a feel-good factor. We were able to preserve both key jobs and IP value in this extensive digital real estate.”

This sale to international group, Internet Fusion, was another example of how readily IP can be packaged and transferred to facilitate a successful corporate turnaround.

Martin Brailsford, of Internet Fusion, said: “As soon as we were aware of the opportunity to acquire the IP of Factory Media we could see the great strategic fit with our current network of e-commerce websites.

“It gives us and our key partners the ability to give back to the customers who buy our products through providing rich, immersive content in something they are passionate about. Completing the purchase in a timely manner whilst also safe guarding jobs was key.”

Stephen Robertson, Founder of Metis Partners, added “The idea of taking a highly specialist B2C retailer and combining that with a subscriber base loyal to specialist digital content in the same sectors makes perfect sense.  It’s a clever strategy opening up a new channel to market for them and is a great story amongst the doom and gloom of retail!”

Metis Partners managed the IP sale process and leveraged its global reach to draw multiple offers and final bidders. Its extensive proprietary database of qualified and relevant interested parties for IP was extremely important and ensured the return exceeded the monetary expectations of the company’s administrators.

Factory Media’s administrator, Michael Chamberlain, said, “Despite the financial problems that Factory Media had experienced I immediately recognised that the key to having a chance of preserving some jobs and achieving a return to creditors was to dispose of the IP.  “Having worked with Metis before, I appreciated the expertise its team would bring to the disposal process.”

Since incorporation in 2006 Factory Media had successfully established its presence in global media market through acquisitions of outdoor sport and adventure publications, pivoting in 2015 to focus on the provision of online content.

The sale of IP assets is expected to ensure the continued publication of titles including Road Cycling UK, Total Women’s Cycling, Dirt Mountain Bike, Mpora, Whitelines and Cooler.

Martin Brailsford added: “We look forward to developing further the IP assets of Factory Media as part of the Internet Fusion family, and to ensuring continuity for the 5 million readers of its specialist publications.”

Founded in 1995, Whitelines began publishing under Jim Peskett, owner of Permanent Publishing, with former British professional snowboarder Tudor ‘Chod’ Thomas as editor. Its sister skateboarding magazine, Sidewalk Surfer (now Sidewalk) shared the same office in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. They were later joined by The Surfer's Path and Dig BMX.

In 2007, the magazine joined Factory Media as part of the merger of three leading specialist sports publishers: Action Sports Media (ASM), Permanent Publishing and 4130 Publishing. It was based in Farringdon, London.

The final issue of Whitelines was the March 2015 version (#120). At the time of Ed Blomfield leaving the magazine it was expected to continue in print, however the owners Factory Media announced in the summer of 2015 that print production would cease and they would live on in digital format.

Factory Media appointed an administrator in late 2018 who informed creditors that the company has been put into voluntary liquidation. The London-based publisher also had six cycle websites as well as a further ten outdoor and lifestyle titles.

Factory Media – which published Dirt, RideUK, BikeMagic, Road Cycling UK and the outdoor website Mpora – appointed accountants Chamberlain & Co to act as the insolvency practitioner in the winding-up process. A number of the websites were originally print magazines.

The company was acquired in January 2017 by Square Up Media from Forward Internet Holdings, owner since 2012. The action-sports titles were brought together by the Foresight group in 2006.