Roularta Media Group sells its participation in Medialaan and purchases a 50% stake in Mediafin - Regulated Insider information - 2/10/2017

The stock quoted media company Roularta Media Group has decided to sell its 50% stake in the audio-visual enterprise Medialaan (TV channels vtm, Q2, Vitaya, CAZ, Radio stations Q music and Joe, Mobile Vikings … ) to the co-shareholder De Persgroep. Additionally, Roularta buys half of the Mediafin shares, currently owned by De Persgroep. The other half of the shares are owned by Group Rossel. Mediafin is the publisher of business media De Tijd and L’Echo. Last year, the company accomplished a turnover of €56 mio euro with a EBITDA of €12 mio. Mediafin is debt free and has a cash position of €13 mio.

Both transactions will conclude into a cash receivable of about 217,5 million euro for Roularta at closing.

Xavier Bouckaert, CEO of Roularta Media Group : “The impact of the digital revolution on the media sector keeps on enlarging. This poses all media companies before important challenges, but offers great opportunities for media companies with a clear focus. Roularta Media Group has always achieved a strong market position in local media (Deze Week, De Zondag, Steps, Digilocal digital marketing services, the e-commerce platform Storesquare, etc.) and national quality magazines (Knack, Le Vif, Trends, Sportmagazine, Nest, Plus Magazine etc.). Joining the capital of Mediafin perfectly fits this positioning. We also made the choice to sell our participation in Medialaan to our partner De Persgroep, whereby we will possess considerable means to further develop our digital and multichannel strategy. We are convinced that Medialaan will be well managed by De Persgroep and we are looking back at a successful partnership of 20 years”

Christian Van Thillo, CEO of De Persgroep:"De Persgroep is in Belgium mainly active in mass media. The expansion of our participation in Medialaan is of strategic importance for our company. The convergence of all media to the internet is getting more important, day after day. We will strengthen our digital market position to be able to compete locally with global tech giants, who dominate this market. The strong audio-visual market position and the expertise of Medialaan will surely help us. On the other hand, we are saying goodbye to Mediafin, who we, together with Group Rossel, built to become a multi-media publishing company with gorgeous titles and a very successful digital strategy. With this transaction, Mediafin remains with strong local shareholders who can grow the company further.

Both transactions will be announced shortly to the Belgian competition authorities.

In this transaction, Roularta Media Group was advised by Bank Degroof Petercam and Allen & Overy.