20 Minuten buys Danish commuter newspapers
20 Minuten acquires MetroXpress Denmark, which operates the free commuter newspapers MetroXpress and 24timer and the associated news portals. The commuter newspaper MetroXpress is the newspaper with the widest reach in Denmark.
Together, the two titles, whose publishing house is based in Copenhagen, have a distributed circulation of just under 350'000 copies and a readership of around 730'000. 20 Minuten intends to bring its experience in building successful commuter newspapers and online news platforms to the company and thus contribute to the further development of the Danish newspaper market, the company wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
20 Minuten will take over the shares of MetroXpress Denmark from the media houses Metro International (previously 51 percent) and A-Pressen and JP/Politikens Hus (previously 24.5 percent each) as of January 1, 2013. MetroXpress Denmark generated sales of 25.5 million euros in 2011 with around 80 employees. The enterprise value relevant for the takeover amounts to a very low double-digit million euro figure.
The commitment in Denmark is the second foreign commitment of the Tamedia media group, to which 20 Minuten belongs. At the end of 2007, Tamedia launched the commuter newspaper L'Essentiel together with the Luxembourg publisher Editpress, which has since developed very successfully.
