Norwegians acquire Postimees' shares

  • 1998-08-27
  • By Kairi Kurm
TALLINN - The Norwegian media group Schibsted ASA, one of the largest media groups in the Nordic region, increased its holding in the Estonian media company Postimees from 34 to 92.5 percent'

Schibsted bought a 58,5 percent stake of shares in Postimees from the former major shareholder Heldur Tonisson.

Tonisson, who previously held 66 percent of the shares in the media group, retained a stake of over 7 percent in Postimees. The media group publishes the leading daily newspaper Postimees , with a circulation of 58,000, and seven magazines.

Postimees Board Chairman Mart Kadastik called Tonisson's decision to sell the shares to Schibsted "a responsible step made at the right time." "We have been holding negotiations since last December and we are satisfied with the results," said Kadastik. Postimees' competitor Meediakorp expressed the belief that there were financial difficulties behind the acquisition.

Since Schibsted obtained its one-third holding in Postimees earlier this spring, the increase of shares last week was a step further in the initial plan. Postimees will be reorganized into a holding company called Eesti Meedia (Estonian Media Ltd.) that will control all of Postimees' present subsidiaries.

The acquisition of Postimees accompanies an increase of Schibsted's share in the Estonian third largest daily Sonumileht, of which 79 percent belonged to Schibsted and 11 percent to Postimees.

The three other popular Estonian newspapers Eesti Paevaleht, Ohtuleht and the weekly Eesti Ekspress are partly controlled by the Swedish media group Marienberg.

Postimees and its biggest competitor Eesti Paevaleht started a campaign some months ago to attract thousands of readers by decreasing subscription prices. Hando Sinisalu, the head of the daily Eesti Paevaleht, predicts these two will be the biggest local dailies in Estonia by the beginning of the 21st century: Eesti Paevaleht will dominate in the northern part of Estonia and Postimees in the southern part, Sinisalu said.