Modern Times Group (MTG) has agreed to buy 70% of the merged assets of Darik News and Net Info in Bulgaria from the commercial radio operator Darik Radio.
Under the terms of the deal, which is for an undisclosed fee and debt-free basis, MTG has the option to buy the remaining 30% of the assets with a five-year period.
Darik News operates a wide range of websites including the news site dariknews.bg; sports news site gong.bg; and weather site vremeto.bg.
Net Info meanwhile operates the email platform abv.bg with approximately 3.5 million users; video clip site vbox7.com; sports news site sportni.bg; weather site sinoptik.bg; and entertainment news site edna.bg. The combined company generated pro forma total revenues of €4.2 million and was profitable for the full year 2012.
Commenting on the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval and certain other terms and conditions, Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, president and CEO of MTG, said: “The acquisition of the Darik News and Net Info operations is a key milestone in the development of our Bulgarian presence. It significantly expands our overall customer proposition in Bulgaria, and will enable us to leverage our content in new and innovative ways across a number of popular platforms, to reach more people than ever before with the entertainment of their choice. We will also be able to extend our advertising proposition and reach, and to offer advertisers more extensive and finely tuned products than ever before.”
MTG already has a strong presence in Bulgaria through five linear TV channels, the Nova Play advertising funded VOD website and the Nova News and Nova Sports news sites
