Exclusive: Publisher of dozens of local titles was sold to Rcapital in deal that promised ‘bright future’
![Newspaper group Archant up for sale 18 months after private equity buyout](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6c5bbc547c631e08310d0b3a20391b2a920e48e7/0_58_1728_1037/master/1728.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=8aeaf8a9cecbcc946bf4e74eee23f534)
Archant, the publisher of dozens of titles including the Eastern Daily Press, London’s Ham & High Express and the former owner of the anti-Brexit weekly the New European, is up for sale only 18 months after being sold to a private equity group.
The Norwich-based newspaper group, one of Britain’s oldest publishers – co-founded in 1845 by the mustard magnates the Colman family – was sold to the investment group Rcapital in August 2020 in a deal that promised a “bright future” for the company as the pandemic accelerated the decline in its already strained finances.