Ringier AG announced today the total purchase of Edipresse A.S. Romania, a joint venture of the Swiss Edipresse publishing group and the German Axel Springer media establishment.
Ringier thus adds to its existing activities in Romania publications such as Elle, Avantaje, Look!, Psychologies, Viva, Întamplari Adevarate, Povestea Mea, Lucru De Mana, Povesti de Viata and Baby, the teenage Popcorn magazine and the Custom Publishing Division.
Ringier has been active in Romania since 1992 and now has over 400 employees.
Ringier Romania operates around a dozen print and online products, amongst which the leading tabloid paper Libertatea.
“The purchase of Edipresse A.S. Romania is an important step for the successful future development of our associative Ringier Romania establishment. The newly gained and well developed portfolio ideally suits our existing magazines structure and further compliments this with strong titles,” says Florian Fels, CEO of Ringier Central Europe.
Edipresse A.S. Romania is a joint venture between Edipresse Switzerland which owns 60 percent and the Axel Springer, with 40 percent participation. Ringier and Axel Springer formed last year a joint venture that reunited the activities of the two groups in Central and Eastern Europe. However, this joint venture did not include Romania.
“Through the sale of our share, in future we shall concentrate even more strongly on our European core market as well as digital growth activities. We thank the management team, together with all Edipresse A.S. Romania employees, for the many years of trusted collaboration,” says Ralph Büchi, President Axel Springer International.
The takeover of the Edipresse A.S. Romania through Ringier Romania S.R.L. remains subject to agreement on behalf of the Romanian competition authorities.
Otilia Haraga