Schibsted ASA (SCHA/SCHB) - Schibsted Media Group and Distilled Media join forces in online classifieds in Ireland
Schibsted Media Group and the Irish online media company Distilled Media has
agreed to join forces in the Irish online classifieds market by combining the
highly successful sites DoneDeal.ie, Daft.ie and Adverts.ie. The new company
will have leading positions in the generalist, cars and real estate segments in
Ireland.
Schibsted contributes to the new company the generalist online classifieds site
DoneDeal.ie, in which Schibsted took over the majority shareholding in 2011.
Ownership has later been increased to 100 percent. Distilled Media contributes
Ireland's leading real estate site Daft.ie and the generalist site Adverts.ie.
Daft.ie and Adverts.ie were established by entrepreneurs Eamonn and Brian
Fallon. Separately, they operate several other well established online sites
which are not part of the new company.
Schibsted and Distilled Media will own 50 percent each of the new company. For
accounting purposes Schibsted will fully consolidate the new company. Prior to
the completion of this transaction, Tiger Global had been a minority shareholder
in Distilled Media, the owner of Daft.ie and Adverts.ie.
"We are delighted to combine with Distilled Media and the Fallon brothers in
Ireland. Through this new setup we will expand our reach in this exciting market
to real estate, and we aim to further improve the position in the generalist and
cars markets. When the leading online classifieds sites in Ireland are joining
forces, we believe we will be able to create even better services for buyers and
sellers," CEO of Schibsted Media Group Rolv Erik Ryssdal says.
Eamonn Fallon will be the CEO of the new Irish company.
"Joining forces with Schibsted in this venture creates an online advertising
business of scale in Ireland with the capability of competing head to head with
the international internet majors. Our combined reach is currently 650,000
people per day. We look forward to working together with Schibsted, benefitting
from their exceptional international experience and insights, to develop and
grow this business in Ireland," Eamonn Fallon says.
DoneDeal.ie, Adverts.ie and Daft.ie will continue operate independently and will
be run by existing management and staff. The new setup is expected to generate
synergies for example within advertising sales and marketing investments.
The combined entity had revenues in the first six months of 2015 of around EUR
9.4 million. The EBITDA margin was 15 percent.
Contact person:
Trond Berger, CFO. Tel: +47 916 86 695
Oslo, 8 July 2015
SCHIBSTED ASA
Jo Christian Steigedal
VP Investor Relations
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section
5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
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