Swisscom expands deeper into user data with $222 mln deal (updated)

TX AG

19/12/2018 08:44

(Adds details about business, comment from analyst)
    ZURICH, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Switzerland's biggest telecoms
group Swisscom  SCMN.S  is expanding deeper into user data by
buying the rest of an online directories business it does not
already own from media company Tamedia  TAMN.S  for about 220
million Swiss francs ($222 million). 
    Announcing the deal on Wednesday, state-controlled Swisscom
said the purchase of Tamedia's 31 percent holding in Swisscom
Directories will have no impact on net debt, adding the deal was
already accounted for on its balance sheet. 
    The acquisition makes Swisscom the sole owner of an
operation that maintains address, telephone and contact
databases across Switzerland. 
    Swisscom Directories operates the nation's biggest directory
platforms called local.ch and search.ch and offers web design,
online advertising, online booking systems and customer
relationship management services to largely small and
medium-sized Swiss companies seeking to acquire and engage
customers, according to its website.
    "Swisscom... is the better owner than Tamedia for a business
whose model is based on address listings," Andreas Mueller, an
analyst at Zuercher Kantonalbank, said in a note to investors,
adding the deal had been expected after Swisscom in 2015 gained
the right to buy the Tamedia stake when they merged two online
search businesses. 
    Tamedia's other businesses include Tages-Anzeiger, one of
Switzerland's biggest daily newspapers.  
    The deal is due to be completed in the first quarter of
2019, said Swisscom, which is just over 50 percent owned by the
Swiss government.
    Swisscom shares were up 0.6 percent at 0830 GMT.

($1 = 0.9924 Swiss francs)

 (Reporting by John Miller, editing by Tassilo Hummel and Susan
Fenton)
 ((J.Miller@thomsonreuters.com; +41 58 306 7734; Reuters
Messaging: j.miller.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))