Independent News and Media (INM) is to be renamed Mediahuis Ireland in the first half of 2021.

The company, which owns the Sunday Independent, Irish Independent, Independent.ie and several other titles, said that the move reflected the significant changes which had been made since the business was acquired by Belgian media group Mediahuis in 2019.

Peter Vandermeersch, publisher at INM, said the new owners had considered changing the company name when they bought it initially. However they wanted to change the company first in areas such as “digital development, new ethics and culture”.

“Now we think we are ready to prepare this change. Our digital transformation is a success, our Irish strategy is working and we are integrating the former INM more and more in the European Mediahuis,” he said.

CEO of INM Marc Vangeel said it was likely that the name change would take place in spring of next year. The group’s operations in the Netherlands are also being renamed Mediahuis Netherlands, he said.

“Our first thought last year was, ‘let’s change our name as soon as possible’,” said Vangeel. “But then we thought, ‘let’s first change some things so we have a new story to tell when we come with a new name, Mediahuis Ireland’.”

Mediahuis acquired INM last year for €145.6m after agreeing to buy the shares of businessmen Denis O’Brien and Dermot Desmond.

The new owners have made several major changes since taking over including the introduction of a paywall for Independent.ie in February and for the Belfast Telegraph in May.