Cornel Nistorescu sold his stake in Expres Company, which publishes Evenimentul Zilei, to German group Bertelsmann, through its Gruner & Jahr AG division, sources on the media market say.
The acquisition enabled the German group to consolidate its position, so that it has now come to control almost 100% in Expres. Before the transaction, Bertelsmann owned 77% of the total shares.
According to the quoted sources, the transaction is worth more than $3 million, accounting for the 22% stake held by Nistorescu, who is also director of the Evenimentul Zilei daily.
When contacted by Mediafax news agency, Nistorescu declined comment on the deal.
Nistorescu travelled to Germany at the end of last week to discuss the transaction.
After selling his shares, Nistorescu will keep his director position with the daily he created in 1992 together with Mihai Carciog and Ion Cristoiu. Thomas Duffert, German group's representative in Romania, would not comment on the issue. "As I have said several times before, I do not comment on the shareholders of the newspaper," Duffert said.
According to the quoted sources, Nistorescu signed a management contract of the newspaper for several years and had precise targets set, which he has to attain.
Evenimentul Zilei is Romania's second daily in terms of audience (739,000 people read it every day), according to the latest data released by the National Audience Survey. Libertatea takes the first place, with 1,006,000 daily readers. As for circulation, Evenimentul Zilei ranks third, behind Libertatea and Adevarul.
Expres posted $6.5 million turnover in 2001, and $255,000 net profit, according to Finance Ministry data. claudia.covaci@zf.ro
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