NACIONAL FOUNDS JOINT COMPANY WITH GERMAN PUBLISHER

ZAGREB, Oct 3 (Hina) - A Croatian weekly, Nacional, and a German publisher, Hubert Burda Media, known for the Burda and Focus magazines, have established a joint company "Burda Nacional", the Zagreb weekly's management board president, Ivo Pukanic, said on Thursday. #L# "Hubert Burda Medic is one of the leading German and European publishing companies with which Nacional wishes to enrich Croatia's media space and, in the next year, issue ten new editions, mostly magazines and reviews," Pukanic told Hina. He did not wish to discuss the capital assets of the new company, but did say that the annual revenue of the German publisher was EUR1.84 billion, and in Germany alone issued 59 magazines, with another 155 in other countries of the world. "The new company, Burda Nacional, established at the end of September, has already begun functioning and will soon issue its first edition on the Croatian market," Pukanic said, refusing to say when and which kind of paper it would be. Pukanic stressed that the cooperation with the German publisher would not influence Nacional weekly's independence. "Hubert Burda Medie's entry into a project with Nacional gives rise to a new media giant on the Croatian market, which will enrich the media space and lead to greater pluralisation in the press," Pukanic said. (hina) lml sb