Local French-language daily Monaco-Matin is to have new proprietors. Majority ownership of the local title, together with sister publications Nice-Matin and Var-Matin, currently held by a workers’ cooperative, will be transferred to the Belgian group Tethys. The purchase process will take place in increments and last until 2019, with Tethys holding 20 percent of the titles at the outset.

The Nice-Matin Group had been in bankruptcy protection before the workers’ cooperative took over its operation in December 2014. A new investor had been sought from the end of last year, and an initial agreement with Nethys was announced in May this year.

The Belgian group, which publishes francophone regional titles in its homeland, has said it will invest “the necessary amounts” to guarantee the future of the local titles. Tethys, with annual turnover of €750 million, has holdings in telecom and energy companies as well as in the media.