M & A
windeln.de: expanding in Western Europe
Shortly after its stock market listing in May 2015, windeln.de Ag, online distributor of products for newborns took over the Spanish mail order shop bebitus Retail S.L. Bebitus markets its products for newborns and toddlers in Spain, Portugal and France and, according to windeln.de, its turnover margin is approximately 7 million Euros, expected to rise to 15 million Euros in 2015. The takeover cost windeln.de some 5 million Euros. Both sides have agreed on further payments up to 2017 pegged to results, made in the form of new shares of windeln.de AG.
This transaction is a further step towards windeln.de developing its standing in the European market. In July, it took over Feedo the east-European mail order distributor presently active in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and China as well as Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This latest takeover opens doors in the western European markets, among which France in particular stands out for its high birth rates and thus great market potential.
Ströer SE: Acquisitions and a new major shareholder
Strörer SE, the advertising space sales organization is expanding its online German business. The Cologne based company purchased Media, the interactive digital distributor, and T-Online the digital portal from Deutsche Telekom. Ströer is a renowned seller of advertising space near bus-stops, train stations; it also sells the advertising space on billboards in football stadiums.
As payment, Deutsche Telekom gets new shares from an increase in Ströer’s share capital, worth some 300 million Euros, amounting to between 11 and 13 percent of the increased capital. The lock-up period of the new shares is one year, and the transaction should be brought to conclusion in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year. All that is missing is approval by the monopolies commission. The purchase of the two companies, should raise the profit per share by more than 5 percent from 2016, again based on the increase in capital, and prior to the joining of forces. In so doing, the company expects to create the financial terrain for greater dividends and further wealth-creating investments,.
The purchase of Interactive Media (rated third in the Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft Online Forschung ) Ströer Digital Group expects to give a substantial boost to its leadership of the online sale of advertising space in the German market. For example, Interactive Media manages the websites of "autoscout24.de", "bunte.de" and "kicker online". The second most important offerer on the market is MEdia Impact, a subsidiary of publisher Axel Springer Verlag. T-Online, by contrast is thought of as the company with the most coverage in Germany. Apparently, the previous owner, Deutsche Telekom, had put it up for sale in 2014 deeming its growth potential too small and because of shifts in clients’ user habits after going on line by this portal.
ISRA Vision: Broadening the range of products
Yet another take-over. Machine Vision specialist Isra Vision AG of Darmstadt is forging ahead in its strategy of development and is purchasing Karlsruhe- based Vision Experts GmbH The group’s strategy is to bolster its core business by catering to the needs of the packaging industry. Vision Experts expects to increase its turnover by more than 20 percent to more than 3 million Euros this financial year. According to Isra Systems, the purchase price was calculated on the basis of the turnover for 2014. Integration is expected to reach conclusion over the coming two quarters, at which point the present headquarters of the group will be unified with those of Vision Experts. The new entry is specialised in optical inspection devices for high quality printed products and for printed packaging for metal or pharmaceuticals.