Naspers acquires Romanian online store eMag for $83 mln - media

The information was provided by unnamed sources in eMag to financial daily Ziarul Financiar (www.zf.ro) on Wednesday.

Naspers group said it will acquire 70% of eMag's shares in July, when both parties did not disclose the terms of the deal, however the group's financial report showed that Naspers had paid a total of $120 million to acquire eMag and a minority stake in middle-eastern online retailer Souq Group Ltd in October. Souq Group reportedly received $40 million from Naspers.

Following the acquisition eMag's director general Iulian Stanciu owns a 21.6% stake and development director Radu Apostolescu holds the remaining 8.4%.

Romanian e-commerce company eMag, registered under the name Dante International SA, reported an annual turnover of 621.4 million lei ($177 million/137 million euro) and an annual net profit of 5.1 million lei in 2011, data filed with Romania's finance ministry showed.

eMAG (www.emag.ro) was set up in 2001 and entered the Bulgarian market in October, where it has acquired the emag.bg website.

($ = 0.775 euro)