20 Minutes has acquired a majority stake in the Spanish free newspaper company Multiprensa y Mas, publisher of free Newspapers in Madrid and Barcelona. The two Newspapers have totally 500.000 readers every day. The acquisition will give 20 Minutes a leading position in the free Newspaper market in Spain.
Schibsted ASA holds approx. 41% of the shares of 20 Minutes Holding AG. The investment is a part of the committed capital in 20 Minutes, and will therefore not require additional liquidity payments for Schibsted.
Contact:
Dr. Ekkehard Kuppel,
CEO of 20 Minutes Holding AG,
tel. +41 1 307 42 82
Oslo, 30 July 2001
Catharina Thorenfeldt
Group Treasurer
Schibsted ASA
Press Release
20 Minutes acquires majority stake in Multiprensa y Mas and becomes largest publisher of quality free newspapers in Spain.
Madrid/Zurich July 30, 2001. 20 Minutes Holding AG ("20 Minutes") in Zurich has acquired a majority stake in the Spanish free newspaper company Multiprensa y Mas (MyM), the largest publisher of high quality free newspapers in Spain. The founders and current shareholders of MyM will own the remaining shares.
MyM has been the pioneer in the Spanish free newspaper market and has developed strong positions in its two current locations, Madrid and Barcelona. Madrid y Mas was launched in January 2000 and currently has a daily circulation of approximately 140.000 on weekdays and Barcelona y Mas was launched in November 2000 and currently has a daily circulation of approximately 105.000. The newspapers are distributed around the public transportation systems and with more than a total of 500.000 daily readers, MyM is one of the largest newspaper publishers in Spain. MyM has been successful in the advertising market and revenues have increased steadily since launch in Madrid and Barcelona, respectively.
The partnership between MyM and 20 Minutes will ensure that MyM will be able to further strengthen its position as the number one publisher of quality free newspapers in Spain and take advantage of 20 Min's knowledge and experience in the free newspaper market. 20 Min is the media company with the most advanced free newspaper and cross media platform with fully integrated online and mobile services. 20 Min has had great success in the Swiss market with a total circulation of 300.000 and 500.000 daily readers in Zurich, Bern and Basel.
Says Mr. Ekkehard Kuppel, CEO of 20 Minutes Holding AG: "We are very excited about the opportunity to enter into a partnership with MyM. MyM has been very successful in the free quality newspaper market in Spain and with the experience and success of 20 Minutes we believe that together we can continue to develop MyM into the leading media platform in Spain".