\n\tSTOCKHOLM: Modern Times Group (MTG) has purchased a 75 percent share in Trace, in a deal that values that company at 40 million euros ($55 million).<\/p>\n
\n\tTrace operates three music TV channels—Trace Urban, Trace Tropical and Trace Africa—and the Trace Sports Stars sports celebrity lifestyle network. The four Trace channels are localized in 16 different feeds and are available in up to 11 languages. The company also runs a number of complementary branded entertainment businesses, including the annual Trace Music Awards, the Trace Stars mobile song competition and the Trace FM radio station in the French Caribbean.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe transaction is subject to regulatory approval by the French media authorities and MTG will consolidate Trace’s results in the group’s accounts with effect from the closing of the transaction. The stake is being acquired from Citizen Capital, Entrepreneur Venture, NextStage and company management; Trace management will retain the remaining 25 percent of the company.<\/p>\n
\n\tJoseph Hundah, the executive VP of MTG’s African operations, said: “Trace is a cool and contemporary entertainment brand, and one of the leading youth brands in Africa. Trace has proven success with different formats around the world. It fits perfectly with what we are doing both in Africa and, more broadly, with both our linear and digital operations, as well as our content production houses. This deal is another key milestone in our international expansion and provides us with footholds from which we can expand even more in Europe, South America, Asia and francophone countries around the world.<\/p>\n
\t“We look forward to welcoming Trace’s skilled and experienced management team to MTG. We will work together to further develop our successful brands and formats, and to continue to expand our businesses.”<\/p>\n
\tOlivier Laouchez, Trace's co-founder, chairman and CEO, commented: “We are just at the beginning of the mobile and digital revolutions. In the coming five years, the media industry will dramatically change. MTG has the right setup and vision to make Trace a leading and cool entertainment multimedia brand for the youth generation, worldwide. We are extremely confident that the synergies, resources and opportunities provided by MTG and its great team will make us achieve this goal faster and better, while preserving Trace’s unique identity and entrepreneurial dynamics.”<\/p>\n
\tJørgen Madsen Lindemann, the president and CEO of MTG, added: “Trace’s development has followed a similar path and strategy to our own at MTG—the creation and nurturing of innovative local products that customers love and want more of, investment in the content offerings, the broadening of their availability, and then international expansion with equally strong local versions in high growth new markets. Trace’s channels and platforms share the powerful affinity with audiences that we always look for. This acquisition is yet another example of our objective to shape the future of entertainment by expanding our content offering, our digital availability and our geographical footprint.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
STOCKHOLM: Modern Times Group (MTG) has purchased a 75 percent share in Trace, in a deal that values that company at 40 million euros ($55 million). Trace operates three music TV channels—Trace Urban, Trace Tropical and Trace Africa—and the Trace Sports Stars sports celebrity lifestyle network. The four Trace channels are localized in 16 different …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-top-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n