But Lund began to get nervous after Primedia refused to let him see the books.
Alloy purchased the beleaguered network, created 19 years ago by Chris Whittle, from Primedia in April 2007.
Primedia, which was acquired buy TPG Capital in 2011, operates ApartmentGuide.com, Rentals.com and RentalHouses.com.
Primedia apparently didn't do such a great job of due diligence on Ashton.
In September a U.S. district judge in Manhattan threw out his case, saying Ashton had "foolishly" assumed business risk without checking the veracity of Primedia's numbers.
Apart from serving as chairman of Pepkor, Shoprite and Tulca, he is on the board of South African media giant Primedia and financial services firm PSG Group Ltd.
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Last summer Emap USA (formerly known as Petersen Publishing and now part of Primedia) made an offer for Vulcan's six outdoor titles at an undisclosed six times earnings.
Too late, Primedia said, and sued, alleging breach of contract.
Lund turned around and filed suit against Primedia, charging fraud.
Mark A. Lund thought he was getting a pretty good deal last year when he picked up a couple of so-called "enthusiast" magazines from the stumbling multimedia giant Primedia.
And unlike Primedia, say, which owns 86 specialty publications and can wield its size to reduce printing costs and wring efficiencies from cross-selling, Vulcan is often in danger of running on empty.
The most recent and perhaps final example came Tuesday when Paris-based Lagardere Active announced that Alain Lemarchand, who has served as CEO of Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. since June 2008, will be stepping down and that former Primedia Enthusiast Media and Source Interlink Media president Steve Parr will take his place.
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