Gadu-gadu's South African suitor

South Africa's biggest media group, Naspers Ltd, intends to acquire Gadu-gadu, Poland's most popular instant messenger (IM) service. Naspers has revealed that it has an agreement with Warsaw Equity Holding (WEH), Gadu-gadu's majority shareholder, to buy its entire 55.05-percent stake in the company for around $155 (zł.414) million.

On October 4, Naspers announced its offer to buy WEH's shares at zł.23.50 per share and Gadu-gadu's stock closed at zł.22.80, marking a 17.65-percent increase on the day. At the same time, Naspers announced that its desire to acquire the remaining 44.95 percent of Gadu-gadu's stock via public tender which will last until December 13.

"Through this investment, Naspers will take control of the leading independent instant messenger in Central Europe, with over six million unique users. Naspers expects to build on this significant network by bringing its international know-how to bear," Naspers said in a statement.

Naspers Ltd owns a long list of firms operating in major areas of media, from television, internet, newspaper and magazine companies, to printers, publishers, distributors and even private education.

The firm's consolidated revenue for 2006 (April-March financial year) stood at ZAR15.7 (zł.60.6) billion, with a net profit of ZAR3.34 (zł.1.29) billion. Gadu-gadu debuted bourse in February of this year, earning zł.75 million from its IPO. The firm's net profit in Q2 2007 was zł.2.34 million.