The majority (360,000) of the title's half-million copies will be distributed in London. The remainder will be given to commuters in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Leeds.
ShortList will be the same size as rival free magazine Sport, but will be printed on slightly heavier paper. Content will be aimed at the 18 to 35-year-old male and will include sport, entertainment, motoring, travel and news.
ShortList will be edited by former Nuts editor Phil Hilton and its launch will be backed by a £2m marketing drive.
However, one press chief at a media agency warned that of all the freesheets and free magazines available now, only Metro is making money.
"Thelondonpaper, London Lite and Sport magazine are losing money hand over fist," he said. "I think it’s telling that the financial backing is not from the financial world."
However, ShortList includes GLG Partners, a UK hedge fund, among its backers, as well as film producer Matthew Vaughn and French Connection founder Stephen Marks.
Soutar, who founded media start-up company Crash Test Media last October after leaving IPC, where he headed new magazine ventures, takes up the role of chief executive in the as-yet-unnamed company.
Karl Marsden, who resigned as commercial director of News International's News Magazines, joins as managing director.
He was previously commercial director of IPC men’s division, Ignite!. Tim Ewington, a research and strategy consultant, who has worked on print and digital launches for The Guardian, the BBC and Lastminute.com, joins as strategy and digital director.
Matt Phare, formerly creative director for Emap's men's portfolio, is the creative director.
