INM’s Digital Sell-Off Continues With Verivox Divestment
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Independent News & Media is continuing its asset fire sale this week with the announcement of a €18.3 million (£16.5 million) sale of its 49 percent stake in German price comparison site Verivox to Oakley Capital Private Equity. The deal includes a €2.3 million (£2 million) loan repayment by Verivox to INM, and INM will get another €1 million if Verivox reaches profit targets in 2010. Release.
SEE ALSO: INM Says Ad Downturn Will Wipe Out 41 Percent Of Profits This Year
It’s part of INM’s long-running plan to sell its “non-core” assets that has so far seen INM offload an 18 percent stake in online bingo company Cashcade for €15.2 million (£13.7 million) and 7.3 percent of its shareholding in Indian newspaper group Jagran Prakashan.
With the forthcoming sale of South African advertising company INM Outdoor, the company will have raised €150 million in sell-offs in 2009 alone.
Given the operating loss of €3.8 million (£3.3 million) made by its UK newspaper business in H109—contributing to a loss of €48.5 million (£42.7 million) overall—it’s tempting to ask why INM is offloading stakes in cash generative, successful companies in favour of propping up its newspaper business. But six months ago INM needed cash fast and the M&A market for expensive, unprofitable print titles isn’t exactly hot right now.
INM CEO Gavin O’Reilly is the print business’s chief cheerleader and believes The Independent will break ever by the end of 2010.
Last month INM won support for a complex deal to refinance its debt, which saw 46
percent of its shares transfer to bondholders and banks.
Posted In: Media & Publishing, Newspapers, Companies, Independent News & Media
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