Cafeyn Group acquires Toutabo/ePresse (formally Readly France).

June 18, 2024

Cafeyn Group (“Cafeyn”), the leading information streaming platform in France, today announces the strategic acquisition of Toutabo/ePresse (formally Readly France). This acquisition marks a significant step in consolidating its leadership in the French market and reflects the ambition of its founder Ari Assuied to create a European champion in digital press distribution. Toutabo/ePresse (formally Readly France), owned since October 2021 by the Swedish Nasdaq First North Stockholm-listed Readly International AB (“Readly”), 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). This acquisition, supported by the shareholders, represented by Marion Assuied and Bregal Milestone, aligns with the strategy implemented by the company in recent years.

In a context of deep transformation in the press sector, the integration of Toutabo/ePresse into Cafeyn 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. This acquisition demonstrates Cafeyn's 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 (“Bonnier”), 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. This acquisition of the French activities of Readly International AB is however independent of this strategic partnership.

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Laurent Kayser, CEO of Cafeyn, states:

"This acquisition marks an important step in our ambition 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 monetize their content with a broader audience, while supporting quality journalism. This allows us to lay the foundations for robust competition against major foreign platforms in the information sector."

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Philip Lindqvist, CEO of Readly, adds:

"Our French presence is still sub critical-mass three years after acquiring Toutabo/ePresse. 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."

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Philippe Lautenberg, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Bregal Milestone, Cafeyn’s minority investor, says:

"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."

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Cafeyn and Toutabo/ePresse will work hand in hand to ensure the smoothest possible transition for users, publishers, and distribution partners.

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Press Contact

Julia Aymé / j.ayme@cafeyn.co / +33 6 99 69 27 04

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About Cafeyn

Cafeyn is an online press aggregation platform offering unlimited access to national and international content in various formats and on all devices. Cafeyn has over 2.5 million users in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Luxembourg, Italy, Canada, Ireland, and the USA. The Group has also established collaborations with more than 500 publishers and content providers worldwide, giving access to nearly 2,000 newspapers, magazines, news feeds, and other pure player content brands such as Paris Match, Libération, Elle, Time Magazine, Newsweek, The Guardian, The Independent, Vrij Nederland, De Groene Amsterdammer, and LINDA. Since 2006, the company has experienced strong growth, both organically and through acquisitions of companies like miLibris (FR), Blendle (NL), and more recently Kidjo (US). It has offices in Paris, London, Tangier, Montreal, and Utrecht, employing over 150 people. In addition to its B2C activity, the service is distributed through multiple long-term partnerships with Albert Heijn, Bouygues Telecom, Free, O2, SFR, Tango, Telus, and Vodafone. The platform is considered the best in its category (>4.5/5 on average) and continually adds new features like audio and collections to offer the best user experience. The Group is owned by Marion Assuied, and the fund Bregal Milestone since 2020. For more information, visit cafeyn.co.

About Readly

Readly is one of Europe's leading players in the category “all-you-can-read” for digital magazines and newspapers. The company offers a digital subscription service where customers have unlimited access to 7,700 national and international titles - all in one app and at a fixed monthly fee. Readly has subscribers in 50 countries and content available in 17 different languages. In collaboration with around 1,200 publishers worldwide, Readly is digitising the newspaper and magazine industry. In 2023, revenues amounted to SEK 677 million. The Readly share is listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market and FNCA Sweden AB is the company’s Certified Advisor. For more information, please visit https//corporate.readly.com.

About Bregal Milestone

Bregal Milestone is a leading European technology private equity firm with c.€1.3 billion of capital raised since inception. The firm provides growth capital and operational support to build market-leading technology companies. Bregal Milestone is part of Bregal Investments, a leading global investment platform with assets under management of over €18 billion. Bregal Milestone was recognised by GrowthCap as one of the Top Growth Equity Firms of 2023. For more information, visit www.bregalmilestone.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

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LLPMIFIDPRU 8 Disclosure
April 2024

Introduction

The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA” or “regulator”) in the Prudential sourcebook for MiFID Investment Firms in the FCA Handbook (“MIFIDPRU”) sets out the detailed prudential requirements that apply to Bregal Milestone LLP, (“Bregal” or the “Firm”). Chapter 8 of MIFIDPRU (“MIFIDPRU 8”) sets out public disclosure rules and guidance with which the Firm must comply, further to those prudential requirements.

Bregal is classified under MIFIDPRU as a small and non-interconnected MIFIDPRU investment firm (“SNI MIFIDPRU Investment Firm”). As such, the Firm is required by MIFIDPRU 8 to disclose information regarding its remuneration policy and practices.

The purpose of these disclosures is to give stakeholders and market participants an insight into the Firm’s culture and to assist stakeholders in making more informed decisions about their relationship with the Firm.

This document has been prepared by Bregal in accordance with the requirements of MIFIDPRU 8 and is verified by the Board. Unless otherwise stated, all figures are as at the Firm’s 31 December financial year-end.

Remuneration Policy and Practices

Overview

As an SNI MIFIDPRU Investment Firm, Bregal is subject to the basic requirements of the MIFIDPRU Remuneration Code (as laid down in Chapter 19G of the Senior management arrangements, Systems and Controls sourcebook in the FCA Handbook (“SYSC”)). The purpose of the remuneration requirements is to:

  • Promote effective risk management in the long-term interests of the Firm and its clients;
  • Ensure alignment between risk and individual reward;
  • Support positive behaviours and healthy firm cultures; and
  • Discourage behaviours that can lead to misconduct and poor customer outcomes.

The objective of Bregal’s remuneration policies and practices is to establish, implement and maintain a culture that is consistent with, and promotes, sound and effective risk management and does not encourage risk-taking which is inconsistent with the risk profile of the Firm and the services that it provides to its clients.

In addition, Bregal recognises that remuneration is a key component in how the Firm attracts, motivates, and retains quality staff and sustains consistently high levels of performance, productivity, and results. As such, the Firm’s remuneration philosophy is also grounded in the belief that its people are the most important asset and provide its greatest competitive advantage.

The Firm is committed to excellence, teamwork, ethical behaviour, and the pursuit of exceptional outcomes for its clients. From a remuneration perspective, this means that performance is determined through the assessment of various factors that relate to these values, and by making considered and informed decisions that reward effort, attitude, and results.

Characteristics of the Firm’s Remuneration Policy and Practices

Remuneration at Bregal is made up of fixed and variable components. The fixed component is set in line with market competitiveness at a level to attract and retain skilled staff. Variable remuneration is paid on a discretionary basis and takes into consideration the Firm’s financial performance as well as the financial performance of each business unit, and the financial and non-financial performance of the individual in contributing to the Firm’s success. All staff members are eligible to receive variable remuneration.

The fixed and variable components of remuneration are appropriately balanced: the fixed component represents a sufficiently high proportion of the total remuneration to enable the operation of a fully flexible policy on variable remuneration. This allows for the possibility of paying no variable remuneration component, which the Firm would do in certain situations, such as where the Firm’s profitability performance is constrained, or where there is a risk that the Firm may not be able to meet its capital or liquidity regulatory requirements.

Governance and Oversight

The Board is responsible for setting and overseeing the implementation of Bregal’s remuneration policy and practices. In order to fulfil its responsibilities, the Firm’s senior management:

  • Is appropriately staffed to enable it to exercise competent and independent judgment on remuneration policies and practices and the incentives created for managing risk, capital, and liquidity.
  • Prepares decisions regarding remuneration, including decisions that have implications for the risk and risk management of the Firm.
  • Ensures that the Firm’s remuneration policy and practices take into account the public interest and the long-term interests of shareholders, investors, and other stakeholders in the Firm.
  • Ensures that the overall remuneration policy is consistent with the business strategy, objectives, values, and interests of the Firm and of its clients.

The Firm’s remuneration policy and practices are reviewed annually by the Firm’s senior management.

Quantitative Remuneration Disclosure

For the financial year 1 January to 31 December 2023, the total amount of remuneration awarded to all staff was £8,002,731 of which £5,121,421 comprised the fixed component of remuneration, and £2,881,310 comprised the variable component. For these purposes, ‘staff’ is defined broadly, and includes, for example, employees of the Firm itself, partners or members, employees of other entities in the Bregal Group and secondees.

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