New York financial investor KKR acquires stake in Springer

Hamburg/ New York — An important mile­stone has been reached on the way to the plan­ned stra­te­gic part­ner­ship between Axel Sprin­ger SE and KKR. Based on the decla­ra­ti­ons of accep­tance recei­ved and booked by the custo­dian banks to date for KKR’s volun­t­ary public take­over offer to all Axel Sprin­ger share­hol­ders, more than 20 percent of Sprin­ger share­hol­ders have accepted KKR’s take­over offer, both part­ners announ­ced. If the rate had been below 20 percent, the billion-dollar deal would have collapsed.

Mathias Döpf­ner, CEO of Axel Sprin­ger, said: “This is an important mile­stone for our plan­ned stra­te­gic part­ner­ship with KKR. It will allow us to take advan­tage of addi­tio­nal oppor­tu­ni­ties and acce­le­rate our growth and invest­ment strategy.”

Julian Deutz, Chief Finan­cial Offi­cer of Axel Sprin­ger, said: “We are plea­sed that the attrac­tive offer from KKR has been accepted. Also in view of the outstan­ding offer condi­ti­ons, we are confi­dent that they can be fulfil­led in the coming months.”

Pursu­ant to Section 16 of the German Secu­ri­ties Acqui­si­tion and Take­over Act (WpÜG), share­hol­ders who have not yet tende­red their shares may still accept the offer at a price of EUR 63.00 per share during the further period provi­ded for by law. This will begin after KKR announ­ces the outcome of the bid in the coming days and will last 14 days.

The execu­tion of the offer remains subject to appr­oval under anti­trust law, foreign trade law and media concen­tra­tion law.

About Axel Springer
Axel Sprin­ger is a media and tech­no­logy company active in more than 40 count­ries. With the infor­ma­tion offe­rings of its diverse media brands (inclu­ding BILD, WELT, BUSINESS INSIDER, POLITICO Europe) and clas­si­fied ad portals (StepStone Group and AVIV Group), Axel Sprin­ger SE helps people to make free decis­i­ons for their lives. The trans­for­ma­tion from a tradi­tio­nal print media house to Euro­pe’s leading digi­tal publisher is now successfully comple­ted. The next goal has been set: Axel Sprin­ger wants to become the world market leader in digi­tal jour­na­lism and digi­tal clas­si­fieds through acce­le­ra­ted growth. The company is head­quar­te­red in Berlin and employs more than 16,300 people world­wide. In the 2018 finan­cial year, Axel Sprin­ger gene­ra­ted 71 percent of reve­nues and 84 percent of profit (adjus­ted EBITDA) from digi­tal activities.