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PubliGroupe acquires premium yield management services provider Sellbranch
[April 28, 2014]

PubliGroupe acquires premium yield management services provider Sellbranch


(Tensid Regulatory Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) News release PubliGroupe acquires premium yield management services provider Sellbranch Lausanne/Stockholm, 28 April 2014- PubliGroupe, a Swiss-based provider of marketing and ad trading services, acquires 50.1% of Sellbranch. Sellbranch, headquartered in Stockholm, delivers yield management services built upon Improve Digital technology, a 85% PubliGroupe affiliate company. Adding Sellbranch to the portfolio strengthens PubliGroupe in its aim to be a key player in the fast growing Nordic markets for real-time advertising (RTA).The acquisition is subject to approval by the Swiss Competition Commission (COMCO).



Sellbranch's services are tailored to the needs of digital media owners looking for a partner to manage their automated sales relationships and manage premium private marketplaces. Sellbranch is working withover 20 premium publishers in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Sellbranch's billings for 2013 reached SEK 23 million (CHF 3 million), and the company shows strong growth, particularly in its programmatic segment. Sellbranch was founded by internet veterans Fredrik Sellgren and Ola Ahlvarsson, internet entrepreneurs and opinion leaders in Sweden. Both will remain shareholders withFredrik Sellgren continuing to lead and develop the Company and Ola Ahlvarsson serving as a member of the Board of Directors representing the second largest shareholderKeynote Media Group AB.

With Sellbranch's yield management expertise and the underlying Improve Digital technology, publishers have an instant opportunity to open up thousands of buying relationships. All major demand-side platforms (DSPs) and agency trading desks are already integrated in the platform. This yields higher returns, increased efficiencies and maximum advertising fill rates, data safety and control. Sellbranch works together with top agencies and trading desks including WPP and Xaxis. Its publisher clients include Yahoo, Spilgames, Spay and Passagen among others.


Arndt C. Groth CEO PubliGroupe: "Sellbranch is a fast growing company with an exciting value proposition. The Sellbranch team has outstanding expertise in linking technology, demand generation, data management and analytics, which is a great extension to our European ad trading technology & services strategy in the dynamic Nordic markets. Sellbranch clients and premium audiences will nicely complement our portfolio companies Improve Digital, Spree7 and Zanox." Fredrik Sellgren, CEO and founder of Sellbranch: "The combination of Improve Digital's leading technology, Sellbranch's long term relationships with the leading publishers and advertisers in the region and a united workforce creating one of Europe's most experienced international advertising technology teams will enable Sellbranch to grow even faster." Ola Ahlvarsson, founder and investor in Sellbranch: "PubliGroupe is well positioned to become a European leader in the most interesting and fast growing space in online advertising. As founders of Sellbranch, the leader in the early adopter markets in the Nordics, we are thrilled to be able to part of this greater vision." According to IDC and PWC research, the total Western European display advertising market is expected to reach EUR 7.8 billion in 2017 with mobile display adding an additional EUR 3 billion to the display advertising market. By 2017, a substantial part of display ad sales revenue is expected to be traded using programmatic and real-time technologies in the US and in the most developed European markets.

An important part of the programmatic audience offered by Sellbranch is accessed through RTA technology that enables dynamic bids for specific advertising impressions as they occur in the browser in real time, rather than bulk-buying impressions on websites or ad networks at a pre-negotiated price. The benefits of RTA are increased transparency and improved targeting resulting in higher CPMs (cost per mille), more efficient workflows and generally more effective advertising thanks to constant optimisation on a real-time basis.

About Sellbranch Headquartered in Stockholm, Sellbranch was founded in 2009. Sellbranch helps leading publishers increase revenuethrough a local sales network and a proprietary optimisation engine based on Improve Digital technology. We help our partners package advertising inventory and identify partners for premium sales and for distribution of unsold inventory. For more information visit www.sellbranch.com.

About PubliGroupe PubliGroupe is a leading Swiss-based provider of digital marketing and ad trading technologies, enabling advertisers to reach their audience by optimising the return of their marketing spending and allowing digital media owners to effectively monetise their reach. It is a performance-oriented full-service provider, employing state-of-the-art data processing tools and information technology with the ultimate goal of making marketing processes more effective for its clients, be it in traditional or digital media. The company is organised into three client-oriented business segments: 'Media Sales', 'Search & Find'and 'Digital & Marketing Services'. Each segment is responsible for its own profits and long-term performance. The holding company PubliGroupe is listed on the Swiss stock exchange SIX (PUBN). For more information visit www.publigroupe.com.

The pre-announcement of a public tender offer from Tamedia does not have any effect on the acquisition of Sellbranch; the purchase price is below the threshold of corporate actions under takeover regulations that would require approval of the General Meeting of Shareholders.

For further enquiries: PubliGroupe Ltd.Beat W. Werder Head of Corporate Communications Tel.: + 41 21 317 72 15 E-Mail: [email protected] Sellbranch ABFredrik Sellgren Founder & CEO Tel: +46 (0) 708 636 363 E-Mail: [email protected] News release (PDF) ProviderChannelContactTensid Ltd., Switzerland www.tensid.chnewsbox.ch www.newsbox.chProvider/Channel related enquiries [email protected] +41 41 763 00 50 (c) 2014 Tensid Ltd., Switzerland.

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