Broadleaf Group

The deal

The teams

The story

Broadleaf Group consists of two businesses, Dennis and Autovia.  

Dennis is a leading international consumer media and ecommerce business based in London and New York. The portfolio is comprised of 35 print and digital titles across 10 verticals; its flagship title, 'The Week', is the second largest current affairs title in both the UK and US markets.

Autovia is an integrated automotive content and marketplace business comprising of automotive media assets and the used eCommerce platform BuyaCar.

The Broadleaf Group portfolio has 1.1m subscribers and over 27m unique visitors to its titles and websites every month.

Exponent acquired the business from The Felix Dennis Estate, partnering with the incumbent management team led by CEO James Tye. We were attracted to the business due to the quality of its media portfolio (in particular 'The Week') and believe there are material value creation opportunities from more ambitious management of the core titles and from new acquisitions.

In October 2021, Exponent completed the sale of Dennis, from Broadleaf Group to Future plc. Over Exponent’s ownership, the business had grown into a world-class and category defining subscription media platform.

Broadleaf Group will continue to own a majority stake in Autovia, which was separated from Dennis in 2021.