Swisscom boss finds Publigroupe offer fair
Swisscom wants to take over Publigroupe with its most important business Local.ch. The head of the telecommunications group, Urs Schaeppi, finds the offer "fair and attractive".
They know local.ch well and are aware of the company's potential, he said in an interview published in the online edition of the newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft on Friday. The fairness opinion of Publigroupe's Board of Directors is not yet available. However, Schaeppi does not believe that it will come at a significantly different price. Whether there will still be much resistance from shareholders is "difficult to say", he says. "It is part and parcel of takeovers that certain investors want to drive up the price." According to Schaeppi, Swisscom wants to bring together Search.ch, Tamedia's search service, and Local.ch, in which Swisscom already holds a half stake, "and create a strong Internet offering for small and medium-sized companies". "The online directory services offer our customers added value and have great potential.
growth potential."
The financial impact of local.ch is currently still manageable, but Schaeppi sees potential. The takeover will not change Swisscom's business in purely financial terms. The EBITDA contribution of Local.ch currently amounts to CHF 40 million; if Swisscom holds the entire company, it will be CHF 60 million. francs.
"Strategically, however, local.ch is a very interesting company because of the potential of internet-based services. We therefore expect significant EBITDA growth in the future," said Schaeppi. A good week before the end of the first half of the year, the Swisscom CEO also confirmed the outlook for 2014 as a whole, stating that the Group expects
sales of 11.5 billion francs and EBITDA of 4.35 billion francs. "We
are right on target," said Schaeppi about the second quarter. (SDA)
Image: Keystone
