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Hürriyet Gazetecilik ve Matbaacılık A.Ş. has announced an offer to acquire Trader Media East, a leading online and print classified advertising company in Russia and Eastern Europe
Istanbul, 4 January 2007 Hürriyet Gazetecilik ve Matbaacılık A.Ş. (Hürriyet) has made an official announcement today of a recommended voluntary offer to acquire 100% of Trader Media East Limited (TME). TME is a leading provider of print and online classified advertising in the Russia, CIS, Baltics, and Eastern Europe region. TME GDRs, representing TME's shares are listed on London Stock Exchange. With approximately 4,900 employees, TME operates in Russia, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Lithuania. The company is one of the leading classified advertising companies in the region, operating with weekly and daily newspapers and websites, primarily in the real estate, automotive and recruitment categories. TME operates in 8 countries, representing a market of approximately 270 million people. The company publishes 256 weekly and daily print titles with approximately 5 million readers per week, and hosts 12 web sites, with approximately 4.6 million unique monthly visitors. Hürriyet, a subsidiary of Doğan Yayın Holding (DYH), has a leading position in the Turkish media sector. With this potential acquisition, Hürriyet will be one of the largest providers of online and offline classified advertising. Moreover, this will give Hürriyet access to high growth regions of Central & Eastern Europe; especially Russia and CIS. Commenting on the offer, Hürriyet's CEO, Vuslat Doğan Sabancı said the following: "Hürriyet's leading position in the Turkish classified advertising market, combined with TME's leading position in high-growth markets in the Russian, CIS, Baltics and Eastern European region, will create one of the largest classified advertising groups in the world. Moreover we believe that TME's internet position in real estate, automotive, recruitment and general classifieds, together with Hürriyet's strong online position, will create the region's leading online classifieds platform. Following the Offer, approximately 35 per cent. of the Hürriyet group's overall revenues will come from outside Turkey. The Offer is an important step towards Doğan Yayın's stated strategy of becoming a major international force. I believe our offer to TME Shareholders is at an attractive value and will be received positively." About TME shares and the offer: TME shares were offered to public in February 2006 for $13 per share. The company's 2005 consolidated net revenues were US$197.9 million and consolidated EBITDA was $64.9 million. TME has strong local brands in print and online classified market. Some of TME's important brands among its 256 print titles are Iz Ruk v Ruki and Aviso in Russia & CIS; Szuperinfo and Expressz in Hungary, Oglasnik in Crotia; AutoBit in Poland. With a total of 50,000,000 GDRs, TME is traded on London Stock Exchange. Over the 3 months ending 19.12.06, the GDRs had a volume weighted average closing price of $8.10 while our offer is $10.00. TME's closing share price was $7.80 as of 19.12.2006 (which was the last day before the announcement of an approach to TME) About Hürriyet: Hürriyet is the flagship subsidiary of Doğan Yayın Holding. Publishing the country's most well known media brand "Hürriyet", the company is the leading publishing house in Turkey. Hürriyet group has 1,900 employees and has the largest market share in the print media in sector in Turkey with close to 680,000 daily sales and approximately 15% share in overall ad market in Turkey. Hürriyet is the leader in print classified advertising in Turkey. Hürriyet publishes 4 national newspapers, operates 5 online news and classified portals and owns 8 printing facilities. The first international investment of Hürriyet was the 30 million $ printing plant in Frankfurt in 2001. With the capacity improvements since then, it has become one of the most modernistic plants within Europe. As of FY05, Hürriyet has posted US$436 million revenues and US$120 million EBITDA. Hürriyet is listed on Istanbul Stock Exchange with 40% free float and over 90% of its free float is held by foreign institutional shareholders. The company is trading at a market capitalization of around US$1.1 billion. About Doğan Yayın Holding (DYH): DYH has a market-leading position in the Turkish market through its operations in newspapers and magazine publishing, television and radio broadcasting, printing and new media with total consolidated revenues and EBITDA of US$1.3bn and US$153m respectively for FY05. With approximately 7,000 employees, DYH is uniquely positioned in different segments of media, with an estimated 42% share of the total advertising market in Turkey. DYH is listed on Istanbul Stock Exchange, with a 34% free float. DYH has been recently rated by "Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc." and received 8 over 10 (81,19%) in terms of national corporate governance rating. Press Contact: Beliğ Güreller Phone: +90 212 677 0855 e-mail: bgureller@dmg.com.tr Investor Contact: M.Alpay Güler Phone: +90 212 677 0593 e-mail: aguler@dmg.com.tr www.dyh.com.tr Ahmet Özer Phone: +90 212 677 0850 e-mail: aozer@hurriyet.com.tr www.hurriyetkurumsal.com |
