American investment fund KKR buys Axel Springer media house

The American investment fund KKR has become the biggest shareholder in the largest German media house Axel Springer, having paid USD 3.2 billion for a 43.54% stake.

KKR bought a 42.5% stake from minority shareholders and another 1.04% at the stock exchange market, thereby acquiring a larger stake than held by the company's founder's widow, Friede Springer, who has kept 42.6% of the shares, and CEO Mathias Doepfner, who has a 2.8% stake.

The purchase was made at the price of EUR 63 per share, after the German media house was evaluated at EUR 6.8 billion.

Axel Springer was one of the last big family-owned media businesses.

Also, Axel Springer is one of the owners of the largest media house in Serbia, Ringier Axel Springer, which publishes the Blic daily.

KKR, which until recently owned TV N1 in Serbia, had to seek approval from the Commission for Protection of Competition of Serbia, which was given last week.

In a detailed report issued by the Commission, it is determined that Ringier Axel Springer is not a monopolist in the Serbian market, and the report also shows detailed data about the media structure in the country.

The Commission determines that Ringier Axel Springer controls 70-80% of the daily newspaper printing market, whereas Borba and Politika hold 10-20% each.

As for the sales of dailies, Blic has a 10-20% share, Informer has 20-30%, Novosti is at 10-20%, as are Kurir, Srpski Telegraf and Alo.

In the magazine market, Ringier Axel Springer is dominant in the segment of magazines for women (Blic Zena, Blic Puls), with a market share of 40-50%.

In the segment of economic and political magazines, it owns the NIN weekly, which holds 20-30% of the market.

The company's competition in the segment of women's magazines, as determined by the Commission for Protection of Competition, are Color Press Group, with Scandal, Svet, Star, Hello, Gloria and Story publications, holding 50-60% of the market, and Adria Media Group, with 5-10%.

In the segment of economic and political magazines, the company's competition consists of: NIP Nedeljnik, the publisher of Nedeljnik, with a market share of 30-40%, and Pecat and Vreme with 10-20%.

In the marketing segment, the company controls 20-30% of the market, as do Adria Media Group and Color Media.

Ringier doo Beograd

Komisija za zaštitu konkurencije Srbije

Color press group d.o.o. Novi Sad

Nip Nedeljnik Beograd

Adria media group Beograd

American investment fund KKR

Axel Springer

Ringier Axel Springer

Commission for Protection of Competition of Serbia

Color Press Group

Color Media

Adria Media Group

NIP Nedeljnik

Friede Springer

Mathias Doepfner

Blic

Borba

Politika

Informer

Novosti

Kurir

Srpski telegraf

Alo

Blic žena

Blic puls

Nedeljnik NIN

Scandal

Svet

Star

Hello

Gloria

Story

Nedeljnik

Pečat

Vreme