LVMH says in talks to buy Le Parisien newspaper

A Louis Vuitton sign is seen at one of their Paris stores September 24, 2013. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

PARIS (Reuters) - Luxury goods group LVMH is in exclusive talks to buy French daily newspaper Le Parisien from media group Amaury, it said on Tuesday, as its looks to consolidate its media business which already includes financial daily Les Echos. LVMH, owned by France's richest man Bernard Arnault, said the acquisition was subject to consideration by the Amaury works council and was conditional upon approval by the relevant competition authorities. "In the last years, Les Echos has seen a spectacular rise in its results," Les Echos group Chief Executive Francis Morel told Le Figaro newspaper. "But this success rests on a fragile balance and today middle-sized players like ourselves have difficulty developing. The time is for consolidation." French papers face declining revenues in competition with free papers and Internet media. Both Le Monde and Liberation general newspapers have gone through financial crises recently and there is a consolidation move among regional papers. Without citing its sources, Le Figaro daily said LVMH had offered 50 million euros ($54.38 million) for Le Parisien and its national edition Aujourd'hui en France. Morel said the objective would be to complete the deal by October. The deal would also include Amaury's advertising branch and distribution firm AM Diffusion Proximy, both deemed to be positive elements behind Le Parisien's relative success across the country, two sources close to the matter told Reuters. Morel said there would not be any job cuts in either editorial team and the idea was not to bring them closer editorially. However, it would save Les Echos group about 3 million euros a year and give it more access to advertising, he said, without saying how. Le Parisien and Aujourd'hui en France, mainstream newspapers, distributed in total just over 385,000 copies in 2014, a fall of about 8.3 percent on the previous year. Other newspapers owned by Amaury and which are not part of the talks with LVMH include sports daily L'Equipe. Amaury also organizes sports events including the Tour de France cycling competition, also not covered by the possible sale. (Reporting By Cyril Altmeyer and John Irish; Editing by Ingrid Melander and Susan Thomas)