Mecom, the UK-based European newspaper owner, has sold its titles in Germany to one of that country’s oldest publishers for €152m (£137m).

The company, which is chaired by David Montgomery, former chief executive of the Mirror Group, is burdened with net debt of about €650m and has been in danger of breaching its banking covenants. It should scrape through the next test of those levels following the proposed sale, according to one analyst.