Aspiro’s search services sold to Opplysningen 1881 for 170 SEK m

Aspiro has signed a binding agreement with Opplysningen 1881 for the sale of its search services as of 1 November 2008. The purchase price is 170 SEK m cash (145 NOK m).

Net sales in Aspiro’s search services were some 60 SEK m in 2007. For the same period, earnings net of direct expenses were some 40 SEK m and EBITDA was some 35 SEK m.

Aspiro is a market leader in mobile entertainment in Northern Europe, providing for instance ringtones, music, games, graphics and films. For some years, Aspiro has also been offering text based search services through short codes such as 1985 and 2100 in Norway. The agreement is valid for these two Norwegian short codes, which will be taken over by Opplysningen 1881 as of 1 November.

- Aspiro’s core competency is mobile entertainment and business solutions. Within Mobile-TV, music, games and mobile marketing, we are among the world leaders and we are going to strengthen our position further. The sale of our search services gives us the opportunity to focus even more on what we do best, says Gunnar Sellæg, CEO of Aspiro.

The transaction is dependent on approval with the Competition Authorities.