The owner of JOE and HER brands, Maximum Media Network, has been acquired by Greencastle Capital.
The announcement comes following creditor and court approval, and Irish Media Merger clearance received earlier this week.
Greencastle Capital has signed a management services agreement with Iconic Labs, a multidivisional new media and technology business under which Iconic will be responsible for the operational and strategic management of the JOE and Her brands.
It has also been confirmed that the company that operates the brands are to be renamed as JOE Media and Her Media.
Following completion of the process, the coming months will see significant investment in the organisation to help maximise the potential of both brands. Areas of investment include a market leading data and insights division which will deliver audience intelligence and sentiment and assist campaign reporting.
The new brands will still have popular shows such as 'GAA Hour', ‘Unfiltered’ and ‘House of Rugby’, and will announce news shows and talent soon.
A key strategic focus of Iconic Labs and Greencastle Capital is further developing and realising the potential of the Her brand in Ireland. A variety of new Her Media shows focusing on areas such as lifestyle, entertainment and sports are to be announced very soon in addition to other exciting plans for the brand.
"This is a new beginning and the start of something special for the JOE and Her brands in Ireland," said Liam Harrington, Chief Business Officer of Iconic Labs. "We are hugely excited by this fresh start for both brands."
"We also appreciate it has been a trying period for staff, exacerbated by the challenges presented by the current external environment. We wish to thank them for their continued hard work and dedication through these challenges. The level of talent amongst the team is truly outstanding and we want to create the right environment for that talent and creativity to flourish."
Paul O’Donohoe, Partner, Greencastle Capital, said: "We are absolutely delighted to complete this process today and wish to thank everyone involved for their efforts in reaching this point. We can now fully integrate JOE’s UK and Irish operations, with the headquarters of the overall business now being based in Dublin."
"We have a very strong vision for where the business needs to get to," Mr O'Donohoe said. "We believe in running the business profitably and doing so is the only way we can achieve a position of strength as a company to develop the ancillary opportunity areas that we foresee. JOE and Her are important Irish brands for the media landscape here and have the potential to become internationally renowned names.
"Our plan is to make the necessary investment and deploy the best management team to ensure we realise this vision."
