Analysts see a big merger at Schibsted's horizon

The president of the Rolv group Erik Ryssdal in Schibsted will be based in Spain in 2019 as head of the international classifieds of the media group.

"I'm going to be based in Barcelona, ​​I have a lot of traveling, so I do not move the family in the beginning, at least, and then we'll look in the long run," says Ryssdal.

During the presentation of the third quarter results, Schibsted announced that the MPI rated company should be listed as an independent and publicly traded company in April.

The jewel in the crown is France's answer to Finn.no, Leboncoin, but half of OLX in Brazil is showing very promising growth and is now paying a lot of money. The other main services of the Schibsted portfolio are Coches.net, Daft.ie, Subito, Fotocasa, Infojobs and Milanuncios.

While the international classifieds services are auctioned and listed, the Nordic press houses with VG, Aftenposten and Aftonbladet, as well as classified services such as Finn.no and Blocket.se, will be part of the parent group Schibsted asa. Schibsted Asa will be led by Kristin Skogen Lund, who comes from the position of Director of NHO.

Can cash in between two and three billion

Schibsted plans to sell up to 5% of the shares of MPI, retain 60% of the shares and sell the remaining shares of MPI to Schibsted shareholders.

The five percent drop in sales could reach two to three billion dollars, according to estimates of the market value of MPI.

"We can see what's the course then, but it's in that order," says Ryssdal.

He adds that the downsizing, in addition to providing money to Schibsted, creates liquidity in the MPI stock after the IPO.

Sees great merger in 2020-21

Henriette Trondsen in Arctic is one of the analysts who follow Schibsted closely.

She thinks that the divestment of classified ads, that is, the international trade of classified ads in MPI, marks the beginning of something really important.

The new company alone will bring about half of the current value of Schibsted, valued at 64 billion Norwegian kroner, despite falling prices on Friday morning.

However, the central point of the list is to allow MPI to look for new opportunities.

"I believe that Schibsted will partner with Naspers in the long-term on the title page, they already own together OLX Brazil and, in the long run, believe that they will also merge with the other Naspers ranked companies. a very powerful global player, with significant synergies in the development of products and technologies It should be borne in mind that the new MPI company will in fact be the largest pure classified company in Europe, and I think the company will be a driving force behind the consolidation of the classifieds sector.

– When will this happen

"I do not think it will happen next year, but maybe in 2020 or 2021," said Trondsen.

Displays values

Like Schibsted, the South African companies Naspers are a diverse group with several activities. Like Schibsted, he traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange with a discount called conglomerate.

But at Naspers, the largest and most valuable asset is a stock of more than 30% of the Chinese internet giant, Tencent.

Tencent is, next to Alibaba, the most powerful technology company in China. Tencent is the largest computer game and social media company in the world with a market value of more than $ 2700 billion.

Another objective of the list of IPMs as a separate company is to advance the values ​​in the classifieds, which will benefit shareholders in terms of market appreciation.

The same thing can happen to Naspers, Trondsen. It refers to the signals the company raised earlier this year when Naspers dropped from 33.2% to 31.2% in Tencent and reported $ 9.8 billion.

Schibsted and Naspers already collaborate closely as owners of half of the fast-growing, and now profitable, company OLX in Brazil.

The parties also know each other sooner. Dutchman Bob van Dijk and manager Martin Scheepbouwer both collaborated with Ryssdal in the title division of Schibsted ten years ago.

Can be the biggest in the world

If Henriette Trondsen, in Arctic, is right, Schibsted asa could, in a year or two, sit as co-owner of the largest ranked company in the world with South African Naspers.

It has not yet bet on the values ​​of such a company and on what property one can reasonably imagine that Schibsted will be able to participate in such a construction. But it will do so as soon as Schibsted explains how the split between the Nordic media section and the international section will be put into practice.

– Will a global boxing company not challenge the competition authorities?

– No, I think competition authorities are more inclined to limit the power of global Internet companies, such as Google and Facebook. And with the exception of Brazil, Schibsted and Naspers have generally divided the markets, so that they are in all countries. So I do not think it will be a problem, "said Henriette Trondsen.

To Henriette Trondenen's analyzes, Rolv Erik Ryssdal replies that there will always be speculation.

"We focus on getting a list in the best possible way – that is, we do not use what many call a dual track, whether you choose a direct deal with someone or a list, we decided to trade, and then we'll see what happens after that, says Ryssdal.(Conditions)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our business using a link directly to our pages. The copy or any other form of use of all or part of the content may only be done by written authorization or as permitted by law. For other terms please see here.