LINK Mobility Group ASA enters the French market by acquiring Netmessage SARL
LINK Mobility Group ASA ("LINK"), one of Europe's leading and fastest growing providers of B2C mobile messaging and mobile services, has today entered into a definitive agreement for the acquisition of French mobile messaging company Netmessage SARL ("Netmessage").
Netmessage was established in 2006, and is located in Paris, France. Netmessage has a strong position in the French market and is one of the leading mobile messaging and marketing providers in France and has launched many new services within this space over the last years.
"I am glad to announce that we have taken our first step into the French market through the acquisition of Netmessage. This is a big European market experiencing strong growth and demand for advanced mobile messaging and solutions services. Netmessage has a strong customer base of more than 700 enterprise customers in France, and we see a good potential to grow the customer base in France through increased penetration of our existing and new services. LINK has now grown its customer base in Europe through organic growth and acquisitions over the last twelve months from 6,000 to more than 16,000 customers.” says Arild E. Hustad, CEO of LINK.
Matthieu Fitoussi says: “I am very proud that Netmessage joins a group like Link Mobility Group that will provide more solutions to our clients and enable the company to pursue its growth.”
The agreed enterprise value of the transaction is EUR 9.9 million, on a cash -free and debt-free basis and assuming a normalized level of working capital. The enterprise value is based on a normalized EBITDA of EUR 1.65 million multiplied by a factor of 6.
The purchase price under the transaction will, subject to customary adjustments, be settled as follows:
- 70% of the purchase price in cash upon closing,
- 15% of the purchase price as sellers' credit to be paid in two equal installments 6 and 12 months after closing. Interest of 4.75% per annum is to be paid in quarterly arrears, and
- 15% of the purchase price to be held in escrow and released in two equal instalments 6 and 12 months after
closing.
The transaction is expected to close on 31 October 2017.
The cash part of the transaction will be fully financed through LINK's corporate fund and bond.
Aabø-Evensen & Co Advokatfirma has acted as legal advisors to LINK Mobility Group ASA in connection with the transaction.
For further information, please contact:
Arild Hustad, CEO
LINK Mobility Group ASA
arild.hustad@linkmobility.com
Mob: +47 95 24 19 30
About LINK Mobility Group ASA
LINK Mobility Group ASA is one of Europe's leading providers within mobile communications, specialized in mobile messaging services, mobile solutions and mobile data intelligence. The Group offers a wide range of scalable services and solutions across industries and sectors due to the growing demand of digital convergence between businesses and customers, platforms and users. The Group is headquartered in Oslo/Norway and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ISIN: NO0010219702). LINK Mobility continues to experience strong organic growth with a high degree of recurring revenue as customers tend to move more business activities onto the mobile platforms. In 2016, LINK Mobility had a total proforma turnover of 924 million NOK with offices in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Germany, Spain and Poland.
About Netmessage SARL
Created in 2006, Netmessage, leader in multichannel digital communication, offers companies of all sizes and all sectors of activity, modern, innovative and powerful solutions to help them optimize their communication strategies. The company supports all marketing and transactional communications via SMS, Email, Voice Phone Messages, Custom One-to-One Videos and Fax.
This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
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