FMG secures $10m offshoring deal with American Media

North London-headquartered pre-media group FMG has entered a long-term partnership with US-based publisher American Media estimated to be worth more than $10m (6.4m)

Under the terms of the deal FMG will manage cross-media content production across print, digital and emerging media platforms for American Media (AMI) and its publishing services clients.

FMG's US subsidiary, which employs around 26 staff, including 16 onsite at the AMI office, will manage the account locally, with production handled at the group's office in Chennai, India.

David Pecker, chief executive of American Media, said: "Every publisher today is looking to reduce their costs and being able to provide them with the production efficiencies we developed for AMI's publishing services business unit allows us to build on this new revenue stream for the company."

Mike Esposito, senior VP of operations and digital production, added: "FMG is the ideal partner to help AMI continue to optimize its internal production processes as well as migration to distribute content across digital platforms. This is the next step in a series of enhancements that AMI began earlier this year."

The deal comes eight months after FMG sold a controlling stake in its business to a group of private equity investors led by India Value Fund Advisors (IVFA) for $20m.

Anish Nanavaty, head of FMG's Americas business, said: "This deal builds on FMG's 30-plus years of experience providing the publishing industry with innovative media production solutions.

"Our partnership with AMI on print and digital production processes is a new paradigm for publishers coping with the need to deliver content across multiple channels in a cost efficient manner."