Mergers / Acquisitions - Switzerland
By Leah McBride Mensching, Thursday 24 May 2007 at 02:50 :: Media Ownership :: #191 :: rss
by Tatiana Repkova
The media houses Tamedia (Tages Anzeiger, 20 Minuten among others) and Espace Media Groupe (Berner Zeitung, der Bund) have agreed to merge their businesses. For those purposes, Tamedia will acquire the majority of shares of Espace Media Groupe. In return, the existing majority owners of Espace Media, first and foremost the families of Erwin Reinhardt-Scherz and Charles von Graffenried, will acquire an interest in Tamedia.
The merger’s objective is to leverage synergies and to launch joint new media projects. Tamedia will acquire an 80 percent stake in the share capital of Berne-based Espace Media Groupe. The purchase price for this transaction will be 205 million Swiss Francs in cash, in addition to 600,000 Tamedia shares which will be issued as part of a capital increase.
Espace Media Groupe, whose origins date back to 1888, and Tamedia, which emerged from the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper founded in 1893, have been affiliated with each other for many years. Since 1990, Tamedia holds a 49 percent stake in the Berner Zeitung, the main subsidiary of Espace Media Groupe. The Berner Zeitung has held a 15 percent share of the SonntagsZeitung since 1987. With the Berner Zeitung buying a 17.5 percent stake in the commuter newspaper 20 Minuten, this cooperation will be further enhanced. Over the past years both companies have evolved from pure printing operations into modern multimedia companies. A symbol of this change is the new multimedia house of Espace Media in Berne.
By fall 2008, it is expected to house the editorial offices of the print media Berner Zeitung BZ and Der Bund, the studios of the regional TV station TeleBärn and of radio Capital FM along with the online portal espace.ch.
Tamedia; May 24, 2007; http://www.publicitas.com/display.asp?id=6.8&chp=6.6&foot=6.9&cpny=*&LIB2=PPNRequestNews(3)&initlib=no&PARAM1=18782&navig=no&statinfo=news
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