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Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

COMCO approves takeover of Ricardo Group by Tamedia

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Zurich, 25 August 2015 – The Swiss Competition Commission (COMCO) has approved the takeover of Ricardo by Tamedia. The Swiss media group can thus take over the Ricardo Group from the South African Media Company Naspers without restrictions. With this investment, Tamedia strengthens its leading position in the Swiss Online market. The Ricardo Group operates the leading online marketplace ricardo.ch with the Online Shopping Center ricardoshops.ch, the car platform autoricardo.ch as well as the general classifieds platform olx.ch.

Tamedia believes that Ricardo's core business, the online market place ricardo.ch, has further growth potential and is planning to further expand it through network effects with the company's own media, such as 20minuten.ch. Christoph Tonini, Tamedia's Chief Executive Officer: «We are pleased that the federal competition commission has approved the takeover of the Ricardo Group without restrictions.  This is a step forward to strengthen our e-commerce services, create real competition in the online car selling market and further expand our leading position in the classifieds business.»

 

The takeover is expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter. In July 2015, Tamedia has already acquired the Norwegian Schibsted Media Group's 50 per cent investment in the previously jointly held subsidiaries Swiss Classified Media AG, car4you Schweiz AG and tutti.ch AG, which operate the general classifieds platform tutti.ch and the car advertising market car4you.ch.

Further information:

Christoph Zimmer, Head Corporate Communications Tamedia
Phone +41 44 248 41 35, e-mail [email protected]

 

Further information about Tamedia

Tamedia is a Swiss media group headquartered in Zurich. With its daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, online platforms and printing facilities Tamedia is a leading media enterprise in Switzerland. Tamedia’s digital services are combined under the roof of Tamedia Digital. Tamedia Digital is pursuing ambitious growth targets and is considered to be the growth driver of the media group. Tamedia was established in 1893 and has been traded at the Swiss stock exchange since 2000.

Further information: www.tamedia.ch

 

Further information about Ricardo

ricardo.ch was established in November 1999 in Baar (Canton Zug) and has been part of the South African media group Naspers since 2008. In the past 15 years ricardo.ch has grown into one of the foremost brands in the Swiss online market. With over 2.3 million registered members and annual sales of over CHF 660 million, ricardo.ch is the clear leader in the Swiss e-commerce market.

The Ricardo Group, operating under the umbrella of ricardo.ch Ltd headquartered in Zug, has around 190 employees in Switzerland and a development team of 30 in France. In 2014 the company generated sales of approximately CHF 40 million.

Further information: www.ricardo.ch

EXTERNAL LINK

Media Release (PDF)