Olswang and Travers Smith have secured top mandates on a deal that sees Radio Times' parent company acquired by German media group Hubert Burda Media.

Immediate Media, which is the publisher of the Radio Times, Top Gear magazine and a range of BBC-branded magazines including BBC Good Food, was bought by Burda from UK private equity firm Exponent Private Equity.

Burda, which is headquartered in Munich, is an international technology and media company with around 540 brands. Burda has approximately 60 million paying consumers and has 10,000 employees worldwide.

Burda media bought 100% of the publishing company from Exponent which formed Immediate in 2011. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Olswang is advising Burda media on all transactional aspects of the deal. The firm has previously advised Burda on a number of acquisitions and investments in media companies in the UK and Europe.

Olswang partner Mark Bertram is leading a team comprising head of commercial Iain Stansfield, corporate partner Chris Mackie, share incentives partner Andrew Quayle and tax partner Stephen Hignett.

German law firm GLNS, which specialises in corporate, tax and litigation is also advising Burda on other aspects of the deal.

Burda board member for legal and compliance Andreas Rittstieg is the lead in-house lawyer on the deal.

Travers Smith is acting for its longstanding client, Exponent. The team is being led by private equity partner Ian Shawyer, while commercial partners Richard Brown and Ben Chivers are advising in relation to commercial contracts and intellectual property matters. Finance partner Donald Lowe and tax partner Russell Warren are also advising on the deal.

The law firm also acted for Exponent on the formation of Immediate in 2011 and has acted for Immediate since then. In 2014, it also advised on the acquisition of cycling and craft titles from Future Publishing.

Picture credit Mary Hutchison