Axel Springer AG announced on Thursday that it would sell the Hamburger Abendblatt and Berliner Morgenpost newspapers, as well as five television guides and two women's magazines to the Funke Mediengruppe.

A joint statement released by the two publishers said the deal, which is subject to approval by competition regulators is worth 920 million euros ($1.22 billion). If approved, the deal is to close next January.

Springer said it would retain its two national papers, the mass-circulation Bild and the broadsheet Die Welt, which the company's chief executive, Mathias Döpfner described as "core properties."

Springer, which recently introduced a pay wall for the online version of Bild, now plans to increase its focus on its digital media, which in 2012 generated more than a third of its revenue.

Investors welcomed the move, with Springer's shares climbing by more than 10 percent in trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange following the announcment.

A trade union representing journalists, though, expressed the fear that the sale could lead to lay offs.

pfd/ch (AP, dpa)