Taiwan tycoons to buy Next Media assets Next Media has agreed a deal to sell its Taiwanese print and television media outlets to a group of local businessmen for NT$17.5bn ($601m), according to a spokesman for the Hong Kong-based group. The controversial deal to sell the assets, including the popular Apple Daily tabloid, was first announced in October but had been delayed as Next Media and the five buyers hammered out details. The print operation will be sold to a consortium of prominent local businessmen including Tsai Shao-Chung, president of Want Want Chinatimes Group; Jeffrey Koo Jr, whose family runs Chinatrust Financial Holding; Lee Shih-tsung, chairman of Lung Yen Life Service Corp; and William Wong, chairman of Formosa Plastics Group. A second consortium, in which Lee Tai-hung, chairman of insurer Taiwan Fire & Marine replaces Mr Tsai, will buy Next's TV operations, Next Media said on Wednesday. Most controversial locally is the involvement of Tsai Shao-chung, son of Taiwanese tycoon Tsai Eng-meng, whose Want Want group is one of the largest snack foods makers in mainland China and who is himself a well-known supporter of the Beijing government. The elder Mr Tsai already owns TV channels and newspapers in Taiwan, and critics say the Tsais" involvement in Apple Daily's Taiwan edition also raises concerns about growing media concentration, an issue regulators say they are examining. The Apple Daily is the most read newspaper in both Hong Kong and Taipei. The Hong Kong edition is unaffected by the Taiwan sale. Next Media has said it is exiting Taiwan because its businesses there were not profitable, but the sale has sparked protests amid worries the buyers" business interests in China could lead the paper to self-censor criticism of the mainland. Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong-based founder of Next Media who fled the mainland as a child, is an outspoken critic of Beijing's policies. That view is reflected in his tabloids, said Steve Tsang, an expert in Chinese and Taiwanese politics at the University of Nottingham. Apple [Daily] was purely commercial but in terms of politics it was quite prepared to stand up on issues which would be seen as unfriendly to Beijing. The Want Want group is not," said Mr Tsang. The sale is subject to regulatory approval, and while few expect it to be blocked, Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission is looking closely at certain aspects. The Fair Trade Commission will hold a hearing this week on whether on whether the combined market share of Mr Tsai's Want Want and Next Media constitutes a monopoly in the media market. Shares in Next Media were suspended in Hong Kong on Wednesday pending official announcement of the agreement, expected later in the day or on Thursday. The shares have risen more than 30 per cent since the company announced in October that it would sell its struggling Taiwan operations. Additional reporting by Jason Liu