Blue & Green and GreenWise Business create sustainable publishing powerhouse

Sustainability titles Blue & Green Tomorrow and GreenWise Business unite to create independent sustainable publishing powerhouse. GreenWise Business founder Louise Bateman is to become editor of Blue & Green, as title launches £260,000 Crowdcube share offer.

Blue & Green Tomorrow, the fastest-growing sustainable lifestyle magazine in the UK, and GreenWise Business, the independent UK green business-to-business (B2B) online news and information publisher, are merging to create the leading online independent publishing powerhouse dedicated to consumers, businesses and investors that want to live, work and invest sustainably.

The merger will enable GreenWise and Blue & Green to rapidly expand the breadth and volume of their high quality B2B and B2C content, and accelerate their readership numbers and their influence in the rapidly growing global ethical and sustainability sectors. The announcement comes as Blue & Green launches a share offer on Crowdcube to raise £260,000 in order to quickly build its team, grow its audience and launch a series of new offerings, including a ground-breaking new green investment option for its investor audience.

Upon completion of the Crowdcube, ​​Greenwise will become an entirely-owned brand of Blue & Green Communications Limited.​ Crowdcube investors in Blue & Green Communications will be taking a share in the merged enterprise. The anticipated merger was priced into the initial offer price.

Under the deal, Louise Bateman, co-founder and editor of GreenWise, will become editor of Blue & Green, and a key member of the new leadership team. Commenting on the merger, she said: “I am very excited about this deal and my new role as editor of Blue & Green. I am joining a team of highly experienced professionals who have worked across a number of sectors, including publishing, marketing, events and investment. My role will be to ensure we grow our readership and audience engagement by creating and delivering the highest quality news, views, features and other content across Blue & Green and GreenWise. I can’t wait to get started.”

The merger comes at a critical and fascinating time for businesses, consumers and investors looking to build a sustainable future. 2015 is crunch year for a global deal on climate change, when worldwide leaders meet for a UN conference in Paris later this year. Meanwhile, in the UK, the implications of a new Government running the country are still being weighed up by the country’s £78 billion green sector.

Blue & Green founder Simon Leadbetter, said: “This is a critical period for sustainability generally and Blue & Green specifically. Attracting someone of Louise’s calibre and experience while also bringing GreenWise into the Blue & Green fold, means our future growth can only be more rapid. With Louise at the helm we’ll be a highly credible cheerleader for sustainability and a thorn in the side for the unsustainable.”

Since it launched in 2010, Blue & Green has been extremely successful in building its readership quickly, reaching over half a million unique readers last year. Its mission is to serve the needs of those interested in sustainable investment and living. By joining forces with GreenWise, it will be able to double its readership and impact overnight, while getting a foothold in the rapidly expanding green business sector.

GreenWise launched in 2008 and has established itself as the UK’s leading online news and information destination for SMEs making the transition to a green economy.

Following a successful share offer, which launched on Crowdcube last week, Blue & Green Communication, the owners of Blue & Green Tomorrow, will acquire GreenWise Business and its related assets through a stock swap with the directors of The Sixty Mile Publishing Co Ltd, which owns GreenWise Business.

Commenting on the share offer, Leadbetter, said: “Crowd funding represents a very real democratisation of the investment world, allowing everyone to be an angel investor in high growth, dynamic businesses that share their values. We’ve always funded ourselves from internal cash flow, but with this investment round we can become the leading independent media voice for sustainability. We would love as many of our combined readership to become shareholders, large or small, and own a stake in our tomorrow.”

There will be no immediate changes to the Blue & Green and GreenWise brands following the merger, but Blue & Green is planning to redesign its website and launch smartphone and tablet apps following its Crowdcube share offer. There are also plans to create a series of small-scale events in the autumn for Blue & Green to create a new investment option for financial advisers and investors that will allow them “to invest in a basket of the bluest and greenest funds and stocks”, said Leadbetter.

Bateman is expected to take up her new position on June 1st.

You can watch our pitch and request our business plan on Crowdcube. Please #investaware. Investments of this nature carry risks to your capital as well as potential rewards. Please read Crowdcube’s risk warning and disclaimer before deciding to invest.

We’re live on Crowdcube. To own a share in our tomorrow, click here.

Further reading:

Blue & Green Tomorrow goes live on Crowdcube
What is Crowdcube?
What we will use the Crowdcube investment for
What we can achieve with Crowdcube investment
First Crowdfunder, now Crowdcube?
Imagining our future with the Crowdcube investment