L.A. Independent Newspaper Group Purchased

Houston-based Equal Access Media Inc., which publishes 13 local weeklies under the auspices of Wave Community Newspapers Inc., will acquire the Los Angeles Independent Newspaper Group and its chain of five community-focused publications, the company said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Equal Access Media will purchase the newspaper group from Los Angeles-based National Media Inc., said Pluria Marshall Jr., Equal Access president and chief executive. Equal Access is acquiring the Los Angeles Independent, Hollywood Independent, Wilshire Independent, West Hollywood Independent and the Westsider, free weekly publications distributed each Wednesday. Executives of National Media were unavailable for comment. Marshall said the transaction should be completed next week, and the acquisition would not affect any employees of the Los Angeles Independent Newspaper Group. “We’re not going to be doing any layoffs,” Marshall said. “We’re going to assume the entire company as a whole. No changes are being made at this time.” The resulting newspaper group will have a combined circulation of 490,000, Marshall said.