It looks like the on-going back-and-forth[FR] between Lagardère and Leguide.com is finally coming to a close. After having their first and second offers rejected by Leguide.com (at 24€/share and 28€/share respectively), Lefigaro reported today[FR] that Lagardère have now managed to acquire a controlling, majority stake in Leguide.com at 28€/share. The transaction values Leguide.com, which is the leading price comparison site in Europe and present in 14 countries, at €98.2 million. Leguide.com will become a part of Lagardère’s newspaper, magazine, broadcasting and digital media subsidiary Lagardère Active, although they insist that they “intend to keep the entrepreneurial culture of Leguide.com”.
Making this acquisition happen was a major strategic priority for Lagardère given their desire to further diversify and grow their portfolio of digital media assets. Although a major force in traditional media and content distribution with their their businesses i
n book and magazine publishing, broadcasting, retail news, and sports/talent management, Lagardère have yet to extend this strength into digital. Lagardère is expecting this deal will be solid step towards changing all that:
“By acquiring for a reasonable price a profitable and fast growing company, which is no.1 in Europe in the price comparison business, Lagardère Active strengthens its position on the performance based monetization market, and thus confirms its strategy of digitalization and its positioning on creation and monetization of audiences”
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