OBC.L Regulatory News (OBC)

5 Sep 2006 15:35

ADVFN PLC05 September 2006 September 5, 2006 ADVFN plc ("ADVFN" or the "Company") Acquisition ADVFN is pleased to announce that it has today entered into an agreement (the 'Acquisition Agreement') for the acquisition of 100 per cent of the issued sharecapital of InvestorsHub.com Inc and SI Holdings, LLC for a cash consideration ofUS $3 Million. InvestorsHub.com Inc and SI Holdings, LLC operate two online investmentcommunity websites in the North American market, which have over 58 millioncombined page views a month. These financial websites are very similar to ADVFNin both content and context and are highly complementary to ADVFN's currentbusiness model. Just like ADVFN, InvestorsHub.com and SI Holdings, LLC (SiliconInvestor) host large investor communities, providing a robust environment forstock information and investor discussion. In the year ended 30th June 2006,InvestorsHub.com Inc and SI Holdings, LLC recorded aggregate unaudited profitsafter tax of US $84,000 and had aggregate unaudited net assets of US $184,000. ADVFN has also today entered into a placing agreement with Mirabaud SecuritiesLimited ( 'Mirabaud' ) pursuant to which Mirabaud has agreed to use reasonableendeavours to raise an aggregate of up to £2,945,000 by the issue of up to98,166,667 new ordinary shares in the capital of the Company at 3p per share.The fund raising is conditional, inter alia, on the Acquisition Agreementbecoming unconditional in all respects save for any conditions relating to theplacing and admission of the new ordinary shares to trading on AIM. The proceedsof the placing will be used to fund the consideration under the AcquisitionAgreement, with the balance to be used for general working capital purposes. "I am delighted to announce the acquisition of InvestorsHub.com and SiliconInvestor. This purchase adds traffic equivalent to the ADVFN website's, alreadyhigh, current output in one transaction thereby giving our marketing and salesinfrastructure exciting scope for growth," said Clem Chambers, CEO of ADVFN. He continued: "As well as large valuable audiences, InvestorsHub.com and SiliconInvestor are two sizeable communities who may benefit from ADVFN's premiumsubscription packages. InvestorsHub.com and Silicon Investor give us a platform for revenue and growthin the US and Canada." Bob Zumbrunnen, President and Chief Executive Officer of InvestorsHub.com, said:"We have had many suitors, but believe ADVFN is the perfect parent company forus. With ADVFN's resources and financial tools, InvestorsHub.com(www.investorshub.com) and Silicon Investor (www.siliconinvestor.com) will soonbe part of a great network of financial sites." Michael Hodges, Chairman of ADVFN, added: "This acquisition delivers what we setout to achieve in the US, bringing us a large audience. With a strong proventeam in the US and excellent scope to leverage our skills with premium data weare very optimistic about the coming months." Enquiries Francesca De Franco, ADVFN, 020 7070 0932 or email: francescad@advfn.com Graeme Thom, Grant Thornton, 0870 991 2790 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange