More Consolidation In Europe: GoAdv To Acquire LeGuide.com For €50 Million
After Meetic buying the European operations of Match.com last week, here’s another sign the online media landscape in Europe is changing in the face of a dire economy: pan-European online media company GoAdv will later today announce that it has proposed acquire LeGuide.com, an 11-year old network of shopping portals operational in 14 European countries, for €50 million (about €64.5 million), and retain all of its staff and offices.
GoAdv currently holds 395,648 shares in LeGuide.com, which is approximately 11.8% of the share capital and 10.8% of the voting rights. The company states that it informed the LeGuide group on 18 December last year that it had crossed the 5% and 10% thresholds in the capital and voting rights earlier that month.
The move would instantly make GoAdv a significant player in the continent’s online and social shopping field, now that it holds cards in terms of content, online marketing and shopping with offices in Ireland (Dublin), France, Germany and Italy. In case you don’t remember, GoAdv acquired Excite Europe in October 2007 and went on to raise €11 million by issuing convertible bonds in the Summer of 2008, prompting TechCrunch UK’s Mike Butcher to predict that they’d go on a buying spree. Turns out he was right.
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