South African listed media group Primedia has completed three acquisitions valued at R40-million. This follows Primedia’s recent successful placement of R150-million of perpetual preference shares.
The company said on Thursday that the acquisitions will bolster existing businesses as well as further diversify its media base. Capital arising from the successful share placement was used to fund the purchases.
Primedia said it has acquired Powerview (80%-owned), which is the leader in the installation and hiring of state of the art LED screens in Africa for either indoor or outdoor events, including the Nedbank Golf Challenge and the cricket matches at the Liberty Life Wanderers cricket stadium.
It has also acquired Moving Tactics (60%-owned and now renamed Primedia Campus Media), which specialises in communicating to the student market through strategically positioned backlit scrolling display units, interactive call-to-action promotions as well as outdoor billboards at the campuses of the top 30 universities and technikons in South Africa.
The third company it has acquired is 365 Digital (100% owned), which is South Africa’s largest sports portal.
Commenting on the acquisitions, CEO William Kirsch said each of the acquisitions is a great strategic fit and will enhance the growth momentum of Primedia.
“Powerview, which has been acquired by Primedia Sport, will further enable Megapro to boost its stadia advertising business by offering, for the first time, digital advertising solutions through electronic perimeter and replay boards at all major sports stadia in South Africa.
“Under the Primedia umbrella, Powerview will be the first supplier in the world to install digital perimeter boards at rugby events. These will appear for the first at the upcoming Springbok internationals starting at Ellis Park this Saturday. We also see Powerview benefiting from the 2010 Fifa World Cup at the designated soccer stadia, as well as from outdoor events at the time.
“With a focus on investing into new growing sectors of the media industry, Primedia Campus Media also fits in line with Primedia’s strategy to offer targeted media solutions to marketers within areas of convergence, out of the home. The campuses offer marketers a young audience, which represents the future decision-makers of this country. Leveraging on the expertise developed through Primedia-owned Rank TV, South Africa’s only television broadcast network in the major taxi ranks, Campus TV will shortly be launched in all key universities and technikons,” he said.
“365 Digital has been acquired by iafrica.com and is highly complimentary with key synergies identified in the areas of content creation, content management and advertising administration. 365 Digital should result in a more than doubling of iafrica.com’s profitability in the 2007 fiscal year. We are also busy with a number of larger and equally exciting transactions and we intend announcing these either prior to or at the time of our year-end results,” he concluded. — I-Net Bridge