An American organization based in New York brought a Dutch investment in HotNews. “They signed for 17% of the shares”
Dragoș Vîlcu and Răzvan Ionescu, the shareholders of the Romanian media group ZYX Publishing Group, announced on Tuesday through a letter to the public that Pluralis BV, an investment fund from the Netherlands, initiated by the American organization MDIF and dedicated to supporting independent media, acquired a minority stake in HotNews.
- On Tuesday, at noon, two representatives of MDIF and Pluralis talked in Bucharest with HotNews journalists and answered the editorial questions.
- If the acquisition is approved by the Competition Council, the main shareholders of HotNews will become: Dragoș Vîlcu – video production businessman, Răzvan Ionescu – HotNews Publisher and Pluralis BV (investment fund initiated by MDIF).
- Pluralis has media holdings in four countries: Poland (Gremi Media), Croatia (Telegram Media Grupa), Slovakia (Petit Press) and Ukraine (Ukrainska Pravda).
On Friday, May 15, the contract was signed regarding a minority investment by the Dutch company Pluralis BV in ZYX Publishing Group publications, the publisher of HotNews, through the organization Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), HotNews shareholders, Vîlcu and Ionescu, communicated in the public letter.
Meeting in the HotNews newsroom
On Tuesday at noon, right at the time of publication of this information, a meeting between two representatives of MDIF and the HotNews editorial office takes place.
The two representatives present in Romania for the investment announcement are Marcin Gadzinski, MDIF program director for Europe, and Grzegorz Kossakowski, MDIF investment director.
Marcin Gadzinski was a journalist at Gazeta Wyborcza, and Grzegorz Kossakowski also worked at the Polish publication, one of the largest in Eastern Europe, as CFO.
The Romanian shareholders communicated the fact that 17% of the shares were signed.
The approval of the Competition Council is awaited
“The investment is in the approval process of the Competition Council and will be in the form of a capital increase in ZYX Group, based in Bucharest,” states the letter provided to the public.
The contract was signed by MDIF CEO Harlan Mandel on behalf of Pluralis BV, the investment fund he manages. Pluralis is a company registered in the Netherlands, which defines its mission as “investing in ensuring an independent and dynamic press throughout Europe”.
Founded in 1996, “MDIF is a New York registered non-profit corporation with 501(c)(3) public charity status. We operate in countries where access to reliable news and information is threatened,” according to its own description.
In the media sector, MDIF has invested $327 million in 157 companies in 50 countries. In Europe, through Pluralis, investments were also made in Gremi Media group from Poland, Petit Press from Slovakia, Telegram group from Croatia and Ukrainska Pravda from Ukraine.
The letter claims that “Pluralis shareholders and investors are a prestigious group of European media companies, democracy-supporting foundations and impact investors and include: King Baudouin Foundation of Belgium (Belgium), media company Mediahuis (Belgium), Soros Economic Development Fund (USA), ERSTE Foundation (Austria), Tinius Trust (Norway), OAK Foundation (Switzerland) and MDIF”.
Apart from HotNews, ZYX Publishing Group contains the publications Golazo, StartupCafe, Totuldespremame, LoveDeco, SmartLiving and B365 and the studio CreaZYX.
