REGULATED INFORMATION – Roularta acquires the JV interest from Bayard Presse

REGULATED INFORMATION – Roularta acquires the JV interest from Bayard Presse

Roularta has obtained 100% ownership of Plus Magazine in the Netherlands, Plus, Frau im Leben and G-Geschichte in Germany and Telepro in Belgium, as well as acquiring 100% of gezondheidsnet.nl.

Roularta Media Group (RMG) has taken over the French media group Bayard Presse’s 50% share in:

– Senior Publications Nederland (SPN), the publisher of the monthly Plus Magazine in the Netherlands,
– Belgomedia, the publisher of Telepro in Belgium and Plus, Frau im Leben and G‑Geschichte in Germany, through German subsidiaries.

RMG had previously owned 50% of SPN and Belgomedia, as a co-founder or co-shareholder, for about the last 30 years. Thus this transaction turns RMG into the sole shareholder in these companies.

RMG has also acquired 100% of Bayard Presse’s shares in Press Partners, the publisher of the website gezondheidsnet.nl in the Netherlands.

Xavier Bouckaert, CEO Roularta Media Group, explains: 

“This transaction enables RMG to reinforce its international expansion and brand portfolio with strong multimedia brands that have a loyal, growing community of subscribers. The various brands have a total of 378,000 subscribers. B2C revenue accounts for 85 to 90% of the total revenue. Thus RMG’s business model is continuing its shift from B2B to B2C income.”

Plus Magazine in the Netherlands, Plus Magazine in Germany and Telepro in Belgium

A positive impact on Roularta Media Group’s results is expected in 2021, as the anticipated turnover and EBITDA of Senior Publications Nederland (SPN), Belgomedia and Press Partners are included in the consolidated figures for 2021, starting in April. In 2020, only 50% of SPN and Belgomedia’s net income was included in the EBITDA. The revenue from the companies thus acquired at 100% comes to more than 30 million euros. The companies involved employ 160 people.

RMG is a Belgian media group listed on the stock exchange, a market leader in magazine brands (general news, business and sports news, women’s brands, lifestyle and professional interest, in Dutch and French), local media in Flanders (free newspapers, Sunday newspapers, lifestyle magazines, online advertising sites, geo-located advertisements and networking events), provincial newspapers (Krant van West-Vlaanderen) and financial and economic newspapers (De Tijd, L’Echo). In the Netherlands and Germany, moreover, RMG is now the market leader in the media market for the over-50s readership group. What is more, along with Roularta Printing Services, RMG also owns the largest offset printing company in Belgium. This is where the quality newspapers, magazines and catalogues for the Belgian and foreign markets are printed.