Publigroupe sells interests to Somedia
The telecommunications group Swisscom has sold a 20 percent stake in Südostschweiz Presse und Print, which it acquired from Publigroupe. The stake is being sold to Somedia, the publishing company’s previous majority owner.
The parties have agreed not to disclose the sale price. The sale of the stake is a consequence of Publigroupe's strategic realignment, the advertising marketer and Swisscom announced on Thursday. The realignment began even before the takeover by Swisscom. Publigroupe was a shareholder in the Graubünden-based company for 18 years.
Südostschweiz Presse und Print is the publishing company of Somedia. It publishes various daily newspapers such as Südostschweiz and Bündner Tagblatt. It also has a commercial printing plant as well as book and magazine publishers at various locations in south-eastern Switzerland.
Sale of shares in media
Publigroupe has already sold its 25 percent stake in FPH Freie Presse Holding to the NZZ media group. It sold the Persönlich publishing house to the editor-in-chief of the communications industry magazine of the same name. Of Publigroupe's holdings in the media sector, the 29 percent stake in SNP Société Neuchâteloise de Presse and 18 percent in Rhône-Media have not yet been sold.
The sale of Publigroupe's stakes in LTV Yellow Pages and Swisscom Directories to Swisscom was approved by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting at the end of October.
Even before the takeover by Swisscom, Publigroupe sold its problem subsidiary and advertising agency Publicitas to a German holding company.
Google counterpart as a target
All that remained of Publigroupe was the fillet piece, the directory platform Local.ch. Swisscom bought it for CHF 475 million. It wants to merge the platform with the Search.ch directory service of the media company Tamedia.
Swisscom will play first fiddle in the new joint venture - it will hold 69 percent. Tamedia will have to make do with 31 percent. Together, Local.ch and Search.ch will form a Swiss alternative to Google. Swisscom and Tamedia had originally faced each other in the bidding war for Publigroupe. (SDA)
