Shamrock Capital, a private equity firm that invests money on behalf of the Roy Disney family, has purchased a stake in Chicago-based luxury lifestyle magazine publisher, Modern Luxury Media LLC for about $50 million.

Modern Luxury, which is owned by its founders, publishes lifestyle magazines in Chicago, Los Angeles, Orange County, Calif., San Diego and Dallas, and will launch a new lifestyle magazine in Houston in March 2005. The company is on target to record about $20 million in sales this year.

An auction for the company initially attracted interest from 32 private equity firms, according to Paul Hale, managing director of media investment bank DeSilva & Phillips, before going through two rounds of bidding.

With the infusion of capital from Shamrock Capital's $161 million fund, the company is planning to expand into 10 or 15 new markets, including New York City over the next three years.

Modern Luxury's current city magazine titles include: Chicago Social, Angeleno, Riviera Orange Co., Riviera San Diego and Modern Luxury Dallas. In addition, the company publishes a set of in-room hotel publications under the Front Desk banner in Chicago, Los Angeles.

Subscribers to Modern Luxury's suite of magazines are primarily wealthy individuals that will respond to magazine's luxury advertisers such as Neiman Marcus and Tiffany & Co.

The company's goal is to expand its combined circulation to over 1 million, which will enable it to sell more national advertising at higher prices.

Reach Shamrock Capital at 818-845-4444. --By Staff Reporters