Milan, Florence - June 26, 2009 - Dada, international leader in Community and Entertainment services via web and mobile and in Domain, Hosting and advanced on-line Advertising solutions, today signed agreements for the acquisition of 51% of Fueps S.p.A..
Held 51% by RCS Digital and for the remaining 49% by the Digital Bros Group, a leading game entertainment operator listed on the STAR segment of the Milan Stock Exchange, Fueps is involved in the creation, management and development of on-line gaming channels and shortly plans to launch an offer in the on-line poker segment.
With a catalogue of over 100 games and a community of over 520,000 registered users, Fueps is among the principal web properties in its sector in Italy with a direct on-line presence through its own Fueps.com site while also developing white-label solutions for third party sites such as Virgilio.
In 2008, the first year of full operations for the company which is therefore still in a start-up phase, Fueps recorded revenues of approx. Euro 635 thousand and an EBITDA of Euro - 750 thousand.
The operation will allow the Dada Group to step up its entrance into the casual & skill games market which presents interesting development opportunities and significant potential synergies with Dada's positioning in the community and entertainment services via web and mobile: on the one hand in fact, Dada can benefit from the high-quality assets already developed, such as for example the technological platform, the user base and the brand; on the other, thanks to its own know-how, Dada can expand Fueps client base, furthering its international expansion plan and the creation of a mobile offer, as well enhancing advertising revenue opportunities.
Under the agreements, the RCS Group will recognise Fueps as the exclusive collector of on-line games, excluding editorial and advertising initiatives relating to skill games, and will afford Fueps intercompany purchase conditions for advertising space in the RCS Group's print and on-line publications.
The agreement establishes substantially equal governance rights with a qualified majority approval mechanism for resolutions on matters of particular relevance.
The transaction, which provides for the acquisition by Dada S.p.A. of the shares in Fueps held by RCS Digital along with the taking over by Dada of the shareholders' agreements which govern the relations between the current shareholders, is expected to be completed within the next 30/60 days. The consideration of Euro 1.36 million, which is equal to the company's proportional net equity at March 31, 2009, will be paid in 8 quarterly deferred instalments, the first of which to be paid 90 days from closing. The consideration for the stake - whose acquisition involves a related party - was confirmed by an independent expert's valuation.
