Billionaire media mogul Richard Desmond has sold his Northern and Shell titles to the UK newspaper giant Trinity Mirror.
The titles included in the sale are the Express and the Daily Star national papers, as well as OK! celebrity gossip magazine.
The agreement is reportedly worth £127m and will mark the end of Desmond’s 18 years as a UK newspaper owner.
In an internal email sent to Express staff, Desmond said: “I remain a great believer in the Daily and Sunday Express Newspapers.
“Trinity Mirror will be the perfect home for those brands, and are positioned to make the most of their potential alongside existing trinity titles.”
Desmond added: “The transaction has been a long time in the making and this is because both parties needed to satisfy themselves that it offers the best possible future for the titles and for all our stakeholders.”
While the Express and Star are both pro-Brexit and Tory-supporting papers, Trinity Mirror’s titles back the Labour Party and campaigned for Remain in the EU referendum.
However, both papers will keep their political affiliations under the new ownership.
Simon Fox, Trinity Mirror chief executive, said: “The Daily Express is not going to become left-wing and the Mirror is not going to become right-wing.”
Lloyd Embley, Mirror editor-in-chief, previously admitted the deal could lead to job cuts for journalists employed by the titles and will save Trinity an estimated £20m a year.
He also said the cash-strapped titles will be able to “pool in” on resources in a bid to save money.
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