MAM
Haymarket swoops on Centaur’s marketing titles in media power play
LONDON: Haymarket Media Group has snapped up three of Britain’s most influential marketing publications from Centaur Media, tightening its grip on the advertising and communications industry.
The acquisition of Marketing Week, Creative Review and Festival of Marketing marks a shrewd move by the 67-year-old publisher, which already controls heavyweight titles including Campaign, PRWeek and Performance Marketing World.
Haymarket Media group chief executive Kevin Costello called the trio “highly respected brands” that fit perfectly with the company’s focus on specialist audiences. The publications will join Haymarket’s business media division under managing director Donna Murphy, initially operating as a separate unit.
Claire Rance, who runs the acquired brands, will stay on to lead them through the transition. “This acquisition represents an exciting opportunity to combine the strengths of our joint businesses,” she said.
The deal adds serious firepower to Haymarket’s marketing arsenal. Marketing Week and Creative Review, launched in 1978 and 1980 respectively, are cornerstone publications for Britain’s £25bn advertising industry. Festival of Marketing, the events business founded in 2013, rounds out the portfolio.
Haymarket has been building its marcomms empire for decades, launching Campaign in 1968 and buying PRWeek in 1988. The company now owns more than 70 brands globally, from What Car? to Asian Investor, with offices spanning eight countries.
The acquisition comes as Centaur Media continues its strategic overhaul. The London-listed publisher began reviewing its assets at the end of 2024, offloading Mark Ritson’s MiniMBA business to Brave Bison in May, Oystercatchers to management in July, and The Lawyer to Legal Benchmarking in September.
For Haymarket, the deal reinforces its position as the undisputed king of specialist media in Britain, giving it unparalleled reach across the marketing and creative industries.
The details of the deal were not provided.
Haymarket Media had earlier this year sold its joint venture Haymarket SAC with the Sorabjee family and its titles Autocar India, Autocar Professional, and What Car? India to Value Drive Technologies, the parent company of Spinny.com.
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
