Webedia gets acquired by Fimalac

Date: September, 12th, 2013

Webedia, one of the leading digital media groups in France, is acquired by Fimalac Group in a €70m+ transaction.

Clipperton Finance acted as a Joint Sell-Side Advisor

Paris – September, 12th 2013
Clipperton Finance, a leading European corporate finance boutique dedicated to  the High Tech and Media industries today announced that it acted as a co-advisor of Paris-based digital content leader Webedia and its shareholders, in their transaction with Fimalac.

Webedia, a major French Media group editing leading websites such as Puremedia or Purepeole, was acquired by Fimalac, the French holding company created by Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière. On top of the extensive synergies brought by Fimalac, a €20m funding will be used by Webedia to accelerate international expansion and vertical diversification.

Founded in 2007 by Cédric Siré and Guillaume Multrier, Webedia has managed to build large scale digital audiences with a portfolio of 10 premium vertical sites around the glamour and entertainment universes, reaching a total of 11 million unique visitors each month. Webedia successfully leveraged its professional content and in-house technology to monetize the audiences through state-of-the-art premium advertising solutions.  In 2012, the company’s revenue increased by 80% to reach close to €20m.

Fimalac has also completed the acquisition of Allociné, and the new group combining Webedia andAllociné will become an international leader in online lifestyle and entertainment media.

Guillaume Multrier, co-founder of Webedia, declared “Clipperton’s value added throughout the process was tremendous, their perfect understanding of our business as well as their expertise in the area proved critical in our search for financial and industrial partners”.  Cédric Siré added “the acquisition of the majority of the capital by Fimalac will enable us to reinforce Webedia’s position as a leader in the digital media sector and to accelerate its development both in France and internationally”.

Thibaut Revel and Nicolas Von Bulow, the partners of Clipperton in charge of managing the transaction, commented “We are very proud to have accompanied a leading French media group such as Webedia, and to have contributed to the emergence of a French digital entertainment champion with global ambitions”.

For more information, please contact:

Clipperton Finance

Thibaut Revel, Partner, trevel@clipperton.net
Nicolas von Bülow, Partner, nvonbulow@clipperton.net

About Clipperton Finance

Clipperton Finance is a European corporate finance boutique exclusively dedicated to the HighTech and Media industries. Clipperton Finance advises high growth companies on financial transactions, fundraisings, capital increases and Mergers & Acquisitions. With a team based in its offices of London, Paris and Berlin, and an international reach, Clipperton Finance is a European leader in the sector. The team has successfully structured more than seventy high level international transactions in the European High Tech sector. For more information, visit www.clipperton.net

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