Highbury House could be split up for sale

A source at UK magazine publisher Highbury House has told GamesIndustry.biz that the publisher may consider selling off its regional divisions - but that magazine titles will not be up for individual sale.

Heavily indebted Highbury, which is the largest remaining rival to Future Publishing in the UK videogames magazine sector, is still hoping to find a buyer for the entire company following the departure of high profile CEO Kelvin MacKenzie late last year.

However, our source revealed that if such a buyer cannot be found, the company's various UK divisions could be sold off independently - providing all magazine titles produced by each division are purchased into the bargain. Highbury currently has no intention of selling off individual titles.

Another source in the magazine industry, who also declined to be named, confirmed that this is the case, adding that rival firm Imagine Publishing recently placed a bid for Play, Highbury's top- selling PlayStation 2 magazine, which was rejected.

Imagine Publishing was established last May by Damian Butt and Mark Kendrick, who were formerly employed by Highbury as editorial director and art director when the company operated under the name of Paragon Publishing.

Imagine already has two games magazines on the shelves, 360 and Cheat Machine. Last October the company purchased Retro Gamer from the now defunct Live Publishing.

Industry rumours suggest that Imagine may be preparing a bid either for all of Highbury House or for some of its regional divisions, with a price tag of several million pounds being placed on the bid by some well-placed insiders.

Highbury executives declined to offer further comment at this time, while Imagine Publishing boss Damian Butt could not be reached at the time of going to press.