July 3 (SeeNews) - Ringier Sportal, a joint venture of Ringier Romania and Bulgaria's Sportal Media Group, said on Tuesday it has entered into an agreement with Intact Media Group to acquire Romanian sports brand Gazeta Sporturilor.
Through this acquisition Ringier Romania will become the unprecedented leader in digital media in the country, Ringier Sportal said in a press release.
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
The acquisition agreement covers the digital platform GSP.ro and the print edition of Gazeta.
The transaction, with a non-disclosed value, is expected to be finalized by September 2018 and is pending approval from the anti-trust authorities in both countries.
"The acquisition of Gazeta is an essential milestone for us as a digital media company with a strong journalistic DNA. Gazeta Sporturilor will be another strong offering for our readers. The major strength of the Gazeta brand is the very high quality of its editorial content produced by the most respected Sports editorial team in the country, led by one of the country’s leading investigative journalists Catalin Tolontan," said Mihnea Vasiliu, managing director of Ringier Romania .
GSP.ro is the number one among all sports portals in the Romanian top 10 digital publishing websites and leader in digital sports news with more than 3.5 million unique viewers per month, according to the press release. The Gazeta print edition is selling about 20,000 copies per day.
"Together with Ringier Romania we will invest in the technological infrastructure of GSP.ro to boost the high-quality content over the platform. At the same time, we will offer smart advertising solutions to be attractive for sport and betting fans in Romania but also for relevant international advertising customers," said Stilian Shishkov, CEO of Sportal Media Group, who is also responsible for Bulgarian platform Sportal.bg.
"We will ensure that GSP.ro continues to expand its leading position as the number 1 sports portal in Romania," Robin Lingg, Member of the Group Executive Board Ringier AG, said.
Ringier Sportal is the 50:50 joint venture of Ringier Romania S.R.L., a direct subsidiary of Swiss-based Ringier AG, and Sportal Media Group Bulgaria established in March 2018.
Founded in 1992, Ringier Romania is the biggest digital publishing group in Romania and a key player on the local media market.
The Sportal Media Group operates Sportal.bg, the Bulgarian sports portal launched in March 2006 which employs over 60 journalists delivering over 300 news items per day from all over the world. The site currently receives over 85 million page views monthly. It is the first Bulgarian website to launch its own web television service.
Beside Sportal.bg, Sportal Media Group operates a total of 40 websites and over 45 social media channels.