Jon Moulton, the outspoken former head of Alchemy Partners, has agreed a £13m (€14.8m) deal to take over the UK assets of troubled publisher Reader's Digest, but will assume none of the responsibility for a pension scheme that brought the company to its knees.

The UK publisher was pushed into administration by its US parent, following the rejection of a proposed rescue package for the UK pension scheme. The deal is the second for Moulton's new turnround firm Better Capital, which listed in December last year. Better Capital confirmed the deal in a regulatory news statement this afternoon.