NRC Handelsblad, De Volkskrant, Het Algemeen Dagblad and Trouw

PCM Uitgevers BV, the publisher of four of the Netherlands' major newspapers, says it has agreed to sell a majority stake to a Belgian media group for €100 million ($127 million).

PCM is the third-largest Dutch publisher after Wegener, 87-per cent owned by Mecom Group, and Telegraaf Media Group.

PCM says it agreed to issue new shares representing a 51-per cent stake to Belgium's De Persgroep NV. De Persgroep, which publishes Belgian newspaper De Morgen, said it would combine its Dutch radio station Q-Music as well as Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool with PCM at a later stage.

PCM's papers - NRC Handelsblad, De Volkskrant, Het Algemeen Dagblad and Trouw - have seen their circulation decline in recent years. Operational problems were compounded by an encounter with British private equity firm Apax Partners, which bought a controlling stake in PCM in 2004 and sold it two years later for €130 million in profit - leaving the company heavily in debt.

"After the exit of Apax we have examined all options carefully. Considering current market circumstances, it is necessary to take a strategic as well as a financial and operational step," PCM CEO Bert Groenewegen said in a statement.

Dutch Culture Minister Ronald Plasterk said he believed the takeover was the best solution for the PCM, which was facing financial difficulties. However, he says he is sorry to see one company gain control of so many newspapers.

Just before Apax sold its stake in 2007, PCM had net debt of €685 million, of which €371 million was with banks. Cost-cutting operations are expected to have resulted in net debt of 160 million euros, of which €125 million was with banks at the end of 2008.

PCM said it would use the new capital to pay down debt and finance its business.