AS Ekspress Grupp to acquire media portal, lrytas.lt in Lithuania
On December 9, 2022, UAB Satyre, 100% subsidiary of AS Ekspress Grupp, entered into the contract for the acquisition of 100% of shares in the media company UAB Lrytas from UAB “Lietuvos rytas”.
UAB Lrytas operates one of the most popular local news portal, in Lithuania. Online portal was founded in 2006. News portal has a strong and independent editorial team, producing its own online content. News portal has more than 420 thousand average real users per day (source: Gemius) and generates currently advertising revenues around 3 million per year. UAB Lrytas employs more than 50 employees.
The acquisition of UAB Lrytas is an organic step in our strategy. The main goal of this deal is to grow the digital media business. Ekspress Grupp acquires the online portal but keeps very close cooperation with Lietuvos rytas newspaper. The shared goal of Lrytas and Ekspress Grupp is to continue offering attractive and independent content for its readers. After the transaction, UAB Lrytas will continue to operate as a separate media company.
The parties have agreed neither to disclose the price nor any other terms of the transaction. The transaction is partly financed with a bank loan from AS SEB Pank. The transaction is not considered as a significant transaction according to the rules and regulations of the NASDAQ Tallinn Stock Exchange “Requirements for Issuers”. AS Ekspress Grupp confirms that the members of the Group’s Management and Supervisory Boards are not personally interested in the transaction. The transaction does not require prior approval of the Lithuanian competition authority because the aggregate turnover of the undertakings concerned is below the merger notification threshold provided in the Lithuanian Law on Competition.
Mari-Liis Rüütsalu
Chairman of the Management Board
AS Ekspress Grupp is the leading media group in the Baltic States whose key activities include web media content production, publishing of newspaper, magazines and books. The Group also manages the electronic ticket sales platform and ticket sales sites in Latvia and Estonia. Ekspress Grupp that launched its operations in 1989 employs 1,400 people, owns leading web media portals in the Baltic States and publishes the most popular daily and weekly newspapers as well as the majority of the most popular magazines in Estonia.
