CMI announces the sale of the Eurozet Group to SFS Ventures and Agora
20. 2. 2019
Czech Media Invest, a.s. (“CMI”), through its wholly owned subsidiary Czech Radio Center a.s., has today completed the sale of its shares of Eurozet sp. z o.o. to Prague-based SFS Ventures s.r.o. and its Polish partner Agora S.A.
SFS Ventures acquires 60 % of the share capital of Polish radio company Eurozet, the remaining 40 % holds Agora as a passive minority investor with an option to buy-out SFS Ventures in the future.
Eurozet Sp. z o.o. engages in the production and broadcasting of radio programs, sale of advertising time, and brokerage for stations and websites, as well as the creation and management of websites. It owns and operates radio stations; sells the advertising time of stations belonging to the Group; and provides brokerage activities for other participants of the radio market in Poland. The company was founded in 1993 and is based in Warsaw, Poland.
Czech Media Invest (CMI) is a holding company that focuses on acquisitions and management of media assets in Central and Western Europe. Through its subsidiary company Czech News Center, which is the leading media house in the Czech Republic, it publishes four daily newspapers, several dozens of magazines and web titles. The company also owns two printing houses and is the leader in publishing and selling books and print distribution in the Czech Republic. In 2018, Czech Media Invest (CMI) became the owner of major radio stations in the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania. In the same year, the group expanded its operations to France where it owns, for example, a socio-political weekly magazine Marianne and holds a stake in the Le Nouveau Monde holding, one of Le Monde’s shareholders. CMI has completed the transaction for the purchase of Lagardère group´s magazine publishing titles in France a couple days ago.
SFS Ventures is a Czech joint venture between Sourcefabric z.u., which was founded in Prague in 2010 to pursue the goal of supporting independent journalism worldwide through open-source digital newsroom solutions, and Media Development Investment Fund, Inc. (MDIF), a mission-driven investment fund for independent news businesses providing news and information that stimulate the type of debate that people need to build free, thriving societies.
MDIF’s investments range from small local newspapers through digital news media to national multiplatform broadcasters located across Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Founded in 1996, MDIF has to date invested nearly $200 million in 115 media companies across 39 countries. Through its investments, close to 100 million people receive their news from MDIF investees and borrowers annually.
MDIF’s broad base of more than 30 investors is a mix of U.S. and European investment funds, private investors, media companies, foundations, development agencies and development finance institutions. MDIF is also a co-founder of the European Press Prize Foundation, a grouping of European media-owning foundations.