Vizrt signs definitive deal for Mosart Medialab acquisition
Further to initial announcement last November, Vizrt has now completed its financial and legal due diligence and has reached a definitive share purchase agreement with the shareholders of Mosart Medialab (Mosart). The agreement with shareholders — TV2 Gruppen, Mads Grønbæk, John Kjellevold and Morten Larsen (holding 77.2%, 17.0%, 5.5% and 0.3% of the shares in Mosart, respectively) – is for the acquisition of all the issued and outstanding share capital of Mosart, a provider of newscast automation solutions.
As a result of the agreement, Vizrt will purchase all of the issued and outstanding share capital of Mosart, on a fully diluted basis, for a cash consideration of NOK 106.2 million (approximately USD 17.7 million) — on a cash and interest bearing debt free basis. Such consideration includes an additional NOK 1.2 million (USD 0.2 million) for the 2013 earn-out.
As part of the transaction, TV2 Gruppen will continue to be granted a license for Mosart’s software, free of charge, in accordance with the current annual license fee charged by Mosart, of NOK 2.6 million per year for seven years. Vizrt anticipates the acquisition of Mosart to close by March 11.
“This acquisition is an important step in our strategy to continuously strengthen Vizrt’s leadership position in the broadcast technology industry,” said Martin Burkhalter, CEO of Vizrt. “With the addition of Mosart’s competence in studio production automation, we expand our already comprehensive workflow offering into an important and growing segment of the broadcast industry. We expect to realise important synergies from this acquisition, both in terms of innovation and in terms of our ability to grow our business. The combination will allow for important and disruptive innovation, and allow Vizrt to address new markets, generate future growth and create value.”
Kjetil Nilsen, chief strategy officer of TV2 commented: “We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Vizrt. We feel confident that Vizrt will provide a strong and competent ownership for the further development of Mosart. Vizrt’s global presence and highly skilled organisation will generate new market opportunities for Mosart and at the same time strengthen a world class IT and media cluster in Bergen. TV 2 will continue to work closely with Vizrt and Mosart to utilize the benefits of their unique technology and competence.”
In addition to the obvious advantages of integrating Mosart’s system with its own workflow, BG and MAM solutions, management believes Vizrt will be able to develop innovative solutions for the media industry, such as a powerful and efficient TV-in-a-box system.
The board of directors of Mosart consists of Øivind Sørbø Johannessen (chairman) and Mads Kristian Grønbæk. John Kjellevold is Mosart’s managing director. Mosart currently has 24 employees.