New partners for AWP
Berne (ots)
Germany's Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (dpa) and London-based AFX News Ltd (AFX) have purchased stakes in leading Swiss financial news agency AWP (AG für Wirtschaftspublikationen, Berne). dpa has bought 35% and AFX 30%, while AWP's previous sole owner - sda (Schweizerische Depeschenagentur AG) - retains the remaining 35%. Price details were not specified.
The new partners' financial commitments emphasise the determination of all three agencies to strengthen their competitive positions in the economic and financial news sector and consolidate their leading position in Switzerland.
AWP, with its journalistic headquarters in Zurich, is the leading financial news agency in Switzerland. AWP provides real-time spot news and market analysis in German, French and Italian to finance professionals and finance web sites - a service profile that its new ownership team aims to develop and subsequently expand.
AWP's new board of directors is chaired by Hansjürg Saager. Its shareholder representatives are Markus Schwab (sda), Walter Richtberg (dpa) and Stefan Ploghaus (AFX). Christoph Gaberthüel will be appointed managing director in the course of 2005. AWP posted sales of around 5 million Swiss francs in 2004 and employs some 20 journalists.
dpa is the main news agency in Germany and one of the big world agencies. Their approximately 1500 journalists worldwide provide realtime news as text (in German, Spanish, English, Arabic), pictures, graphics and audio.
AFX News Ltd provides real-time economic news coverage to professional communities in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch. AFX News covers the world with a special focus on Europe. The AFX News network operates 12 AFX News bureaux including the London headquarters. AFX News Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Agence France-Presse (AFP).
sda is Switzerland's leading news agency. Owned by Swiss media organisations, it has regional offices across the country, staffed around the clock by some 200 journalists generating national and international news in German, French and Italian.
contact: Stefan Ploghaus phone: +44-773-455'68'08