Daily Mail and General Trust : owner snaps up New Scientist magazine for $97.8 million

(Reuters) - The owner of Britain's Daily Mail newspaper acquired science and technology magazine New Scientist for 70 million pounds ($97.80 million) in cash, as it looks to build out its subscriptions and digital offerings.

Daily Mail and General Trust said on Wednesday its consumer media division bought the publication from a consortium of investors led by New Scientist owner Bernard Gray.

"New Scientist is a world-renowned publication loved by its readers ... We are very much looking forward to supporting their exciting plans to grow as the go-to publication for anyone interested in the scientific world around us," DMGT Chairman Jonathan Harmsworth said.

The purchase comes soon after the British firm agreed to sell its EdTech business, Hobsons, in an effort to narrow its focus on a handful of businesses.

New Scientist, founded in 1956, is expected to post an operating profit of about 7 million pounds in 2021, with revenue likely to exceed 20 million pounds, DMGT said.

The publication has a weekly circulation of about 120,000, of which just over half are based in the UK, and gets about 75% of its revenue from subscriptions.

($1 = 0.7157 pounds)

(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Anil D'Silva)