James Brown sells 'Viz' publishing group to Dennis in cut-price deal

James Brown, the former editor of the lads magazine Loaded, yesterday agreed to sell his I Feel Good publishing business, the producer of Viz, for just £5.1m.

The buyer is Felix Dennis, the millionaire publisher behind Maxim and The Week. Dennis Group is paying just 8p a share for the loss-making I Feel Good business – a quarter of the price of the shares at the time of the company's stock market flotation in the summer of 2000. Nevertheless, the deal will raise Mr Brown, who owns 15 million shares in the business, £1.2m. He is believed to have invested just over £100,000 in the company.

The investment firm Laxey Partners, which owns 11.25 million shares, is also a beneficiary of the deal, having invested in the business at an average price of 4p a share.

I Feel Good was floated on the stock market at 32p in the summer of 2000. It went on to raise cash a year later through a rights issue at about 25p to fund the purchase of Viz.

The offer from Dennis Group has the backing of nearly 51 per cent of the company's shareholders including the entrepreneur Chris Akers, who owns 1.88 million shares.

Mr Dennis, its chairman, said: "I believe that IFG has a positive future under our ownership and I look forward to working with James Brown."