Ive Group is buying Salmat's Marketing Solutions business, including letterbox distribution, Reach Media NZ and the online Lassoo site.

The deal sees Salmat receive $25 million cash for the sale to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ive Group.

Reach NZ operates the company's catalogue distribution business in New Zealand.

A statement says Ive will provide "transitional support services" to Salmat, including its Philippines-based MicroSourcing managed services business, post-completion until final separation takes place.

Salmat says the decision to sell Marketing Solutions followed a management review which looked at sustainability issues in catalogue distribution.

"Having considered a number of alternatives, we believe that the Ive proposal represents the best available option for employees, clients, shareholders and the Marketing Solutions business as a whole in the current market," Salmat chief executive Rebecca Lowde said.

The change will combine Salmat's catalogue distribution business with complementary print, data and marketing activities within Ive. "We are also now considering the best future options for Salmat and the MicroSourcing business."

The 40-year-old Salmat business - in which News Limited was a minority shareholder from 1984-98 - now reaches up to 17 million Australians in seven million homes a week. The name comes from founders Phil (and his father Tom) Salter and Peter Mattick. Phil Salter died in 2015 aged 64.

Pictured: Salmat chairman Phil Mattick, who founded the business with Phil Salter and his father