Yellow Media Inc. says it has reached an agreement to sell Trader Corp. for $745 million to funds advised by Apax Partners, a private equity investment group.
The division of the company is home to various classified advertisement publications and websites including Auto Trader magazine, AutoHebdo.net and the New Home Guide.
Yellow Media, publisher of the Yellow Pages print and online directories, has been transforming itself into a digital company to extend its reach with consumers and advertisers.
“This divestiture is attractive for our shareholders and will allow us to deploy capital in our core business, helping accelerate our digital transformation while further strengthening our capital structure,” said Marc P. Tellier, president and CEO of Yellow Media, in a statement. He called his organization “Canada’s number one internet company.”
Trader Corp. owns about 160 print publications and 22 websites in the areas of automotive, real estate, general merchandise and employment.
The company estimates it has about 1 million readers a week across the publications and 3.5 million unique visitors to its websites each month.
The sale of Trader Corp. is expected to close in June, pending regulatory and other approvals.
Last year, Montreal-based Yellow Media made several acquisitions including engine and directory publisher Canpages for $225 million deal, and Clear Sky Media Inc., owner of bargain hunting site RedFlagDeals.com, technology shopping comparison site PriceCanada.com, and Scarlett Lounge.
