Cafeyn announces acquisition of Toutabo/ePresse
French information streaming platform Cafeyn Group has announced the strategic acquisition of Toutabo/ePresse, formally Readly France. It marks a significant step in the company consolidating its leadership in the French market, reflecting the ambition of its founder Ari Assuied to create a European champion in digital press distribution.
“By consolidating the French and European markets, we will be able to offer an unparalleled user experience and provide publishers with the opportunity to monetise their content with a broader audience, while supporting quality journalism,” said Laurent Kayser, CEO of Cafeyn.
“This allows us to lay the foundations for robust competition against major foreign platforms in the information sector.”
Owned by the Swedish Nasdaq First North Stockholm-listed Readly International AB, Toutabo/ePresse is a key player in the digital press sector in France, with a distribution model that is varied and complementary to Cafeyn’s.
By integrating Toutabo/ePresse into its portfolio, Cafeyn significantly enhances its selection of quality information content to a broad audience through diversified distribution channels (B2C, B2B, B2B2C).
The acquisition, supported by the shareholders, represented by Marion Assuied and Bregal Milestone, aligns with the strategy implemented by the company in recent years and is part of an ambitious growth strategy aimed at consolidating its leadership position in France and strengthening its presence across other European markets by promoting innovation in the digital distribution of press.
Cafeyn said the acquisition demonstrated “a commitment to supporting press pluralism and assisting publishers in their innovation and audience development strategies”.
In December 2022, Cafeyn concluded a strategic partnership with Bonnier News Group AB, the leading media company in Scandinavia and now the majority shareholder of Readly, with the ambition for Cafeyn to acquire Readly’s activities outside Scandinavia, a partnership both parties are committed to. The acquisition of the French activities of Readly International AB is however independent of this strategic partnership.
“Our French presence is still sub critical-mass three years after acquiring Toutabo/ePresse,” said Philip Lindqvist, CEO of Readly. “This transaction with Cafeyn gives Toutabo/ePresse the necessary scale and synergies to continue its journey. While this transaction is a great fit, we also see this as an opportunity for us to make additional investments in our established core markets, Germany, Sweden and the UK.”
Philippe Lautenberg, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Bregal Milestone, Cafeyn’s minority investor, added: “Independently to the strategic partnership concluded with Bonnier, this acquisition of the French activities of Toutabo/ePresse demonstrates Cafeyn’s ability to develop and execute a consolidation strategy in France and Europe, and to constantly improve and expand the quality of its offering to publishers and readers across Europe.”
