Ekspress Grupp, an Estonian media group that owns the Delfi news websites in the Baltic countries, has acquired the Lrytas news website from Lithuania’s Lietuvos Rytas.
The agreement on the acquisition of 100% of shares in Lrytas, a subsidiary of Lietuvos Rytas, was signed on December 9, Ekspress Grupp said in a press release.
The parties “have agreed that the transaction price and other terms are confidential”, it said.
“The acquisition of UAB Lrytas is an organic step in our strategy, and the main goal of this deal is to grow the digital media business,” Mari-Liis Ruutsalu, CEO of Ekspress Grupp, said in the press release.
“The logic of life and business dictates that it is time to hand over the website to a new owner with deeper expertise in online business,” said Gedvydas Vainauskas, CEO of Lietuvos Rytas.
According to him, Lrytas will “maintain cooperation with the newspaper Lietuvos Rytas and Lietuvos Rytas TV”.
The deal covers only the Lrytas website and does not include the printed publications of Lietuvos Rytas. The Lrytas news website is run by a separate editorial team from that of the print newspaper. It will continue to operate as a separate media outlet, according to the press release.
Ekspress Grupp became the owner of Delfi in 2007. (ERR/Business World Magazine)
