ONE MORE THING: IT'S A case of back to the future for Irish investment group Ion Equity this month following its decision to re-acquire Ocean Media Group in Britain – a business it sold in late 2007 for a tidy £60 million-plus profit.

Ocean is a weddings, exhibitions and specialist magazine business. The firm’s profits have declined significantly in the downturn, particularly in the magazines division.

Ion originally bought Ocean in July 2006 from Trinity Mirror Newspapers for about £40 million (€48 million).

Sixteen months later, Ion flipped it on to AAC Capital Partners, a British private equity business, for more than £100 million.

That deal was funded by Anglo Irish Bank, now part of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation. The bank sold Ocean to Ion this week having taken charge of the asset after the company ran into difficulties.

The price isn’t being disclosed but Ion tell me it is “substantially reduced” from what it sold the business for in 2007. The deal is all cash and is not supported by bank funding.

Ion plans to make additional investment available to support the business in coming months and has brought David Moran back in as chief executive. Moran made a few bob from the sale of the business in 2007 and is among the investors this time around.

Ion director Ulric Kenny, who was involved in the investment first time around, will be chairman of the company. “We know this business very well and we’ve always liked it,” Kenny told me. “The world has changed an awful lot since we sold out in 2007. The business lost its way. But we believe the fundamentals remain sound and we’re confident we can restore it to a very healthy position. We certainly don’t anticipate an early exit second time round.

“We’re in this time for the long haul. I’m delighted to get the deal done.”