Local investors bring New England Home back to New England

BOSTON, Nov. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A private investment group led by Adam Japko and Chris Legg has acquired New England Home, the premier regional luxury home design brand in the Northeast. Prior to the acquisition, New England Home was part of the portfolio of home-design brands owned by Atlanta's Network Communications, Inc. (NCI). Progress Partners, headquartered in Cambridge, MA and New York, NY, is a finance and M&A advisory firm that works with emerging growth companies. Progress acted as financial advisor to the transaction.

The New England Home brand is comprised of both print and digital media assets, as well as industry events and awards programs aimed at showcasing the unique architecture, exquisite interior design, and superior custom building that define the luxury home in the six states of New England. The brand's flagship publication, New England Home, is the leading luxury home magazine in New England and parent publication to other titles including New England Home Cape & Islands and quarterly editions of New England Home Connecticut.

The New England Home magazine website (www.nehomemag.com), daily design blog, weekly e-newsletters, and a robust social media footprint connect the brand with design professionals and luxury consumers online.

The New England Home brand also originated and continues to organize the New England Design Hall of Fame and Five Under Forty events for the region's design community. The eighth annual New England Design Hall of Fame awards gala (http://nehomemag.com/ms/new-england-design-hall-fame/hall-fame-boston-ma) will take place this week on Wednesday, November 5, 2014, at the State Room in Boston, MA.

"We're particularly pleased to bring such a powerhouse brand back to local ownership," said Chris Legg. "The acquisition of New England Home was a natural first step for our newly organized group and now poises us for further expansion in to the design and luxury media space in which our private investors bring a deep understanding of the business and marketplace."

New England Home to retain key personnel
Adam Japko, who helped guide the brand's development over the last eight years as president of NCI's Home Design Division, will lead the transition and continue to be an integral part of the New England Home brand business, working alongside both New England Home Publisher Kathy Bush-Dutton and Editor-in-chief Kyle Hoepner. "Kathy and Kyle lead the finest sales and editorial teams with which I have ever been associated," said Japko. "Working with them has been a highlight of my career and I am delighted that this 'dream team' will remain in place at New England Home as we continue to further the brand in this region."

"We could not be more pleased with this new partnership between the brand and its new ownership," commented Kathy Bush-Dutton. "It provides the strength and stability to continue scouting out all the most beautiful new design finds for our readers, and connecting our region's top-shelf professionals with the many design-savvy New England residents who have the drive and the means to turn their dream homes into reality. With our tenth anniversary coming up in 2015, we are delighted to celebrate the business coming home to New England and are better positioned for continued growth and success."

About New England Home Magazine, LLC
New England Home Magazine, LLC is a small group of private investors who have joined forces to drive the growth and expansion of luxury and lifestyle brands. Capitalizing on the success of its lead acquisition of New England Home, the group plans to leverage its media expertise to acquire and strategically grow key brands in targeted regions.

Adam Japko is chief executive officer of Esteem Media and a managing partner at New England Home Magazine, LLC, the group of investors that has acquired the New England Home brand and its assets. In September 2014, Esteem Media announced its formation and lead acquisitions of Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, The Design Bloggers Conference and The Garden Bloggers Conference.

Prior to forming Esteem Media, Japko served since 2005 as president of NCI's Luxury Home Design Division and DigitalSherpa, a leading provider of content marketing and social media management for small businesses nationwide. Under Japko's leadership, DigitalSherpa initiated and managed content marketing and social media programs for more than 4,000 SMBs since its launch in August 2009. Prior to joining the NCI team, Japko was president and chief operating officer of the Advanced Technology Division at PennWell Media Corp., a business-to-business information provider for the global technology, energy and municipal services markets. Japko also owns and is the blogger behind the award-winning wine-centric blog, WineZag.

Chris Legg is a senior managing director at Progress Partners (www.progresspartners.com) and a general partner at Progress Ventures.  At New England Home, LLC, Legg leads a group of local Boston-based private investors who collectively have a long and successful track record running and investing in private companies in a variety of industries, including publishing and new media. Together they have decades of experience acquiring, growing and consolidating companies, resulting in 50 liquidity events and acquisitions across the US, Canada and abroad.

About New England Home
For more information about New England Home's offerings both in print and online, please visit http://www.nehomemag.com, or connect via Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/nehomemagazine), Twitter @NEHomeMagazine and Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/nehomemagazine).

For more information about this week's New England Design Hall of Fame awards gala, please visit http://nehomemag.com/ms/new-england-design-hall-fame/hall-fame-boston-ma #NEdesignHOF, #design

MEDIA CONTACT:
Jacqueline Docherty Sagl
For New England Home Magazine, LLC
[email protected]
978.265.3663

SOURCE New England Home Magazine, LLC

Related Links

http://www.nehomemag.com