27.10.06

News Invest / Pulpmedia

News Invest, la société de communication financière dédiée aux sociétés cotées a annoncé l'acquisition de 100% du capital de la société Pulpmedia, société pionnière en marketing sur Internet. Le montant de l’opération n’a pas été dévoilé.

Pulpmedia figure parmi les 10 sociétés en France accréditées par Google et Yahoo et parmi les 3 sociétés indépendantes du secteur. Pulpmedia est fortement positionnée sur le secteur de la finance avec des clients prestigieux tels que la Macif, AGF, BNP Paribas, GMF Vie ou le Crédit Foncier.

L'agence est également présente sur le secteur de l'e commerce avec des clients tels que ADA, Houra.fr, PlantesEtJardins.com, AutoIES.com et EntreParticuliers.com. Le rapprochement News Invest/Pulpmedia va aboutir à la constitution du 1er groupe de marketing Internet financier en France. News Invest va en effet élargir son offre aux sociétés cotées avec l'optimisation de leur base d'actionnaires individuels et l'accroissement de leur visibilité sur internet.

(c) Fusazq

23.10.06

Iliad / Citéfibre

Iliad va acquérir Citéfibre, l'opérateur de fibres optiques jusqu'à l'abonné, annoncent les deux groupes dans un communiqué.

Citéfibre, créé en novembre 2004, compte plus de 500 clients, 3.000 kilomètres en fibres optiques et plus de 130 bâtiments fibrés dans le 15e arrondissement de Paris. L'opérateur est également titulaire d'autorisations lui permettant de raccorder 4.000 foyers supplémentaires.

Cette acquisition, d'un montant non communiqué, n'aurait aucun impact significatif sur le compte de résultat, sur le bilan ou sur le tableau de flux de trésorerie d'Iliad, selon le communiqué de presse.

(c) Reuters

17.10.06

MTV / Quizilla.com

MTV, the TV channel owned by US media group Viacom, announced the acquisition of Quizilla.com, a California online, user-generated community of original teen authors.

The authors, who are 14 years and up, create and share quizzes, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, polls, and other creative content. The website was acquired from Gorilla Nation Media, on behalf of the Nickelodeon/MTVN kids and family group.

Quizilla is a top-five online destination for female teens and will join the MTVN kids and family digital portfolio that includes popular teen sites The-N.com and NeoPets.com.

Quizilla.com drew 3.1 million unique visitors globally during September, 2006, according to comScore Media Metrix. By combining Quizilla and the The-N.com's The Click embedded video player, the Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group will provide its teen female audience with a 360 degree, multi-platform entertainment experience and an unprecedented platform for creating and sharing creative content with their peers.

Founded in 2002, Quizilla originally launched as a site that helped users create, maintain and share only quizzes. As user-generated content became more popular, it evolved into a creative community for exchanging a wider variety of self-published works, including original fiction and nonfiction, poems, and journals. Quizilla users today can create an original work, share it with friends, post on social networking sites such as MySpace, and view feedback from other readers. Users can also post photo albums, play games, and read horoscopes.

(c) MergerMarket

13.10.06

Aufeminin.com / Marmiton.org

Aufeminin.com a annoncé l'acquisition de 100% de Marmiton.org, premier site francophone de gastronomie et leader des magazines thématiques à destination des femmes.

Le montant de l’opération s’élève à environ 7 MEUR (soit 13x le résultat opérationnel post synergies attendu pour 2007 pour Marmiton), 3,75 MEUR étant payé en numéraire, le solde provenant de l’émission de 162 750 actions d'Auféminin (environ 2% du capital). L'opération doit être finalisée au cours du mois de décembre 2006.

Créé il y a 6 ans, Marmiton (dont la marque va être maintenue) se démarque de ses concurrents par une audience très large (1,9 millions de visiteurs uniques) et par une vraie logique communautaire synonyme de fidélité, précise le portail Internet dédié aux femmes. Cette acquisition portera l'audience du groupe Auféminin.com à environ 7,5 millions de visiteurs uniques mensuels en France et 12,5 millions de visiteurs uniques en Europe.

(c) Fusacq.com

11.10.06

Carphone Warehouse / AOL UK

Carphone Warehouse and Time Warner Inc. have reached agreement for Carphone Warehouse to acquire AOL's Internet access business in the UK for a cash consideration of GBP 370m (USD 688m) funded via an extension of existing debt facilities. Completion is subject to EU competition authority clearance and is expected to take place by 31 December 2006.

Under the agreement, Carphone Warehouse will acquire AOL's Internet access customer base in the UK as well as the supporting management and infrastructure (the 'Access' business). For its part, AOL will provide co-branded portal, content and other audience services and will manage the online advertising sales for Carphone Warehouse's combined broadband customer base through a revenue-sharing agreement.

AOL is one of the largest Internet service providers in the UK, with approximately 2.1m ISP customers. On completion, it is anticipated that this will comprise 1.5m broadband customers and 0.6m dial-up customers. In the year to December 2005, the assets to be acquired generated revenues of GBP 442.1m and an operating profit of GBP 14.1m. Gross assets at December 2005 were GBP 77.9m.

Since 2003, Carphone Warehouse has been building a significant presence in the UK residential telecoms market. Through organic growth and acquisition, it has grown to a base of 2.7m voice customers in under four years, giving it approximately 11% of the residential calls market. In April 2006, Carphone Warehouse launched a major new initiative, offering free broadband to its voice customers, and has attracted 625,000 applications for this service over the last six months.

The acquisition of the Access business will give Carphone Warehouse an enlarged broadband customer base of approximately 2m customers, making it the third largest broadband provider in the UK. Over time, the additional scale is likely to create significant operating efficiencies in relation to network infrastructure and marketing costs. In addition, the commercial agreement in relation to the Audience business provides Carphone Warehouse with a ready-made platform via which it can generate material incremental value from its large and growing customer base.

The management time and investment cost involved in replicating the Audience business model would be significant, so the structure of the deal allows Carphone Warehouse to accelerate its plans without the requirement to build further internal resource.

For Time Warner and AOL, this transaction marks an important step in positioning AOL's audience business to take further advantage of the rapid growth in online advertising - in keeping with AOL's overall worldwide strategy. In addition to exiting its Internet access businesses in Germany, France and the UK, AOL will now have a stronger platform for providing portal, content and other audience services, on a stand-alone as well as a co-branded basis, and managing online advertising sales.

The total cash consideration is GBP 370m, of which GBP 250m will be paid on completion and the balance paid in three instalments over the following 18 months. The consideration is being funded by an extension of existing bank facilities. The transaction is due to complete by 31 December 2006 and is subject to EU competition authority clearance. At this stage it is anticipated that the acquisition will increase current year pre-tax profits by approximately GBP 10m (subject to completion by 31 December 2006), and next year's pre-tax profits by GBP 30-40m.

(c) MergerMarket.com

10.10.06

Google / YouTube

Google, the listed California-based Internet search provider, announced today it has agreed to acquire YouTube for USD 1.65bn in stock.

Privately held YouTube, also based in California, is the consumer media company for people to watch and share original videos through a Web experience. Following the acquisition, YouTube will operate independently to preserve its successful brand and passionate community. All YouTube employees will remain with the company. The number of Google shares to be issued in the transaction will be determined based on the 30-day average closing price two trading days prior to the completion of the acquisition.

Both companies have approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2006. The acquisition combines one of the largest and fastest growing online video entertainment communities with Google's expertise in organizing information and creating new models for advertising on the Internet. The combined companies will focus on providing a better, more comprehensive experience for users interested in uploading, watching and sharing videos, and will offer new opportunities for professional content owners to distribute their work to reach a vast new audience.

(c) MergerMarket