UK magazine publisher Highbury goes up for sale

Highbury House, the publishing company behind videogame titles including GamesTM, Play, X360 and Cube, has officially gone up for sale, following the departure of CEO Kelvin MacKenzie late last year.

"Following the departure of Kelvin MacKenzie, a review of the Group's activities has been carried out and the Board has concluded, with the agreement of the Company's lenders, that the trading activities of the group should be put on sale immediately," a statement issued this week reads.

MacKenzie, the former editor of British tabloid newspaper The Sun, had invested significant amounts of his own cash in the group - but bowed out on December 22nd after just three months at the helm, commenting that "I gave it my best shot but was defeated by a mountain of debt which had been accumulated over the past three years."

The majority of Highbury's magazines were sold to rival Future Publishing last year, after a bid by Future to buy out the entire company was abandoned following referral to the UK Competition Commission.

Highbury's board has warned shareholders that, given the level of debt accrued by the company, it is unlikely that equity in the firm will hold any value even in the event of a successful sale.