By Elvira Pollina
MILAN (Reuters) -Italian tech company Bending Spoons said on Wednesday it will acquire AOL from Yahoo, which is backed by Apollo Global Management, adding a storied internet brand to its growing portfolio of digital businesses.
Bending Spoons said it secured a $2.8 billion debt financing package to support the acquisition, as well as investments in research and development and future M&A activity.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Sources familiar with the matter had told Reuters that Yahoo was nearing the sale of AOL to Bending Spoons for $1.4 billion when it reported on the likely transaction on October 1.
NEW CHAPTER FOR AOL
“AOL is an important and beloved business with a brand that has stood the test of time,” Bending Spoons said in a statement to Reuters.
“It has strong fundamentals — high subscriber retention and, with around 30 million monthly and 8 million daily active users, excellent engagement,” it said, adding that AOL ranks among the top 10 most used email apps globally.
Milan-based Bending Spoons has emerged as one of Europe’s most prominent technology firms, with a strategy of purchasing struggling tech companies and revamping them.
The deal marks a fresh chapter for AOL, the one-time giant of the internet age, known for its email service and “You’ve Got Mail” notification.
AOL was at the centre of the biggest merger in history at the time when it combined with Time Warner in 2000 but the mega-deal resulted in regulatory probes and writedowns.
SERIES OF ACQUISITIONS
The announcement of the AOL deal comes one month after Bending Spoons entered a definitive agreement to acquire video platform Vimeo.
The latest financing package was provided by a consortium of leading banks including Banco BPM, BNP Paribas, CACIB Crédit Agricole, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, JP Morgan, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho, Société Générale, UniCredit, and Wells Fargo.
The round brings Bending Spoons’ total debt funding in 2025 to around $4 billion, the company said.
Bending Spoons, whose products count 300 million monthly users, has made a series of acquisitions recently, including file-sharing service WeTransfer, note-taking tool Evernote and photo editor Remini.
Bankers see the firm as a candidate for an initial public offering (IPO) in the U.S.
(Reporting by Elvira PollinaEditing by Keith Weir)
