Newspaper & Mailroom
Successful public tender offer for SeLoger.com: Axel Springer holds 74.2 percent of the shares of SeLoger.com
Friday 04. March 2011 - Offer will be reopened for at least ten trading days under the same conditions
The revised public cash tender offer of Axel Springer for all outstanding shares of SeLoger.com SA has been successful. The offer, which closed on February 23, 2011, was accepted by the shareholders of SeLoger.com in an amount of 61.8 percent of the shares of the company. Accordingly, the designated minimum acceptance threshold of 50.01 percent (including Axel Springer’s current 12.4 percent stake of the shares of SeLoger.com) was reached. Settlement of the offer is expected for March 11, 2011. Afterwards, Axel Springer will hold 74.2 percent of the shares of SeLoger.com and will get a majority of board seats. In addition, the offer will re-open for at least 10 trading days. The French Securities Regulator (Autorité des marchés financiers or AMF) will set the timetable for the re-opening of the offer.
Dr. Mathias Döpfner, Chief Executive Officer of Axel Springer AG: “We are very pleased that our improved offer has been accepted by a large majority of SeLoger.coms shareholders. As the leading property classifieds online portal in France, SeLoger.com will be a perfect addition to our portfolio of successful online companies and enhance our footprint in a major European market. We are fully committed to support the companys further growth and look forward to work with the excellent management team. The acquisition of SeLoger.com further accelerates our expansion in online classifieds marketplaces, one of the three focus areas of our digitization strategy.”
Axel Springer and SeLoger.com had agreed on a friendly revised offer on January 18, 2011 , at a price of EUR 38.05 per share which was approved by the AMF on February 1, 2011. Axel Springer had already purchased 12.4 percent of the share capital of SeLoger.com on September 9, 2010 , from the two founders and other members of SeLoger.com’s management and supervisory board at a purchase price of EUR 34.00 per share in cash followed by a public offer at the same price to the shareholders of SeLoger.com. The revised offer price applies to the former sellers.
The acquisition of the majority of SeLoger.com, the leading property online portal in France, is a further step in Axel Springers digitization strategy. SeLoger.com recently reported a 13.3 percent increase in revenues to EUR 82.7 million (PY: EUR 73.0 million) for the financial year 2010 and reiterated its guidance for a 2010 EBITDA in the high range between EUR 42 million and EUR 44 million. The company maintained its market leadership in France with more than 1.1 million property listings and 3.1 million unique visitors in December 2010, up 17 percent from December 2009.