The Deal Strategic partnership between simply local - a brand of my xplace - and four publishing houses, including NWZ and Rhein Main Digital. IEG has acted as exclusive financial advisor to xplace GmbH during the multistage equity growth financing and was the maoin driver for establishing a strategic partnership between classic publishing houses and a local online marketplace in Germany. IEG's main tasks were: coordination and management of the entire process including due diligence, valuation of the company, support the preparation of the business and accompanying of the negotiations until closing.

The Client xplace GmbH, headquartered in Göttingen, Germany, is a European market leader in the field of interactive customer information, kiosk technology and Digital Signage at the Point-Of-Sale (POS). The company’s product portfolio comprises POS terminals, POS TV Solutions, the software application xplace NoTeS and a POS supporting internet portal, as well as marketing services and hardware. The NWZ Mediengruppe is the leading media company in Northwest Lower Saxony with headquarters in Oldenburg.Since the 1990s, the NWZ Mediengruppe has also been expanding into the private radio sector and is thus also active beyond regional borders. VRM Digital GmbH is a subsidiary of VRM GmbH & Co. KG (formerly Verlagsgruppe Rhein Main), which is also the publisher of the Allgemeine Zeitung. The traditional media company is represented in the Rhine-Main region with a total of 29 newspaper titles.

The Perspective The partners plan on combining off- and online media reach, as well as premium contacts to local businesses in order to further strengthen the simply local platform. "The stationary trade is often lacking the instruments to also meet its customers online. Therefore, simply local gives priority to the local and stationary trade", says Michael Volland, CEO at xplace GmbH.

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