SLEEPZ AG — M&A Activity 2007

Nov 9, 2007

News Details

Corporate | 9 November 2007 12:00

bmp AG: bmp and Mangrove to invest in ‘Repulic of Women’

bmp AG / Miscellaneous

Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory
AG.
The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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bmp AG: bmp and Mangrove to invest in 'Repulic of Women'

Berlin, November 9th 2007

The agreement signed on November 8th provides Republika Kobiet Sp. z o.o.
with backing of two international venture capital funds: bmp Media
Investors, an affiliate of bmp AG and Mangrove II Investment managed by
Mangrove Capital Partners.

The funds took in equal proportion a total of 35% of shares of Republika
Kobiet.pl, whose aim is to build a web 2.0 lifestyle portal targeted at
women. The Founders of the company are Jan Dybczynski – co-founder and many
years’ CEO of Polish branch of world’s biggest publisher of women’s glossy
magazines, Hachette Filipacchi Polska – publisher of, among others, Elle
and Marie Clare, Katarzyna Montgomery – former editor-in-chief of
fortnightly Viva! - a leader on the people magazines market and Piotr
Wasowski – co-creator of success of stock exchange company Bankier.pl – a
leader among internet financial portals, where he was a vice-president and
later CEO during 2003-2006.

'Soon we intend to launch Republika Kobiet.pl, an internet portal which
thanks to making use of the advantages that internet has over the
traditional media, will be an interactive and community-building equivalent
of women magazines. Thanks to the combination of founders experience
gained on both press an internet markets and using the support provided by
bmp AG and Mangrove Capital Partners we would like to offer Polish women a
place in the internet, a Republic, where they could build up their world
and find information about the topics which interest them the most.' – says
Katarzyna Montgomery – editor-in-chief and vice-president of Rpebublika
Kobiet.

bmp AG has been investing in Poland since 1999. It is dually listed on both
Polish and German stock exchange since 2004. bmp’s most important
investments in Poland were Internet Data Systems – internet service
provider for the public sector, Bankier.pl – a leader on the market of
financial portals in Poland and, currently in the portfolio, K2 Internet –
a leader of e-marketing in Poland, soon to be floated on the stock exchange
and Nokaut.pl – prominent price comparison shopping engine in Polish
internet.

Investment in Republika Kobiet.pl is the first one to be done in Poland by
a fund managed by Mangrove Capital Partners. The Mangrove funds invest all
over the world in technology companies, mostly in such sectors as
communication, infrastructure, media or wireless technologies. Mangrove
Capital Partners is best know for the fact of being the first institutional
investor of Skype, contributing substantially to Skype’s taking the lead on
internet communicators market.

'We took the decision to invest in Republika Kobiet because we strongly
believe in good prospects ahead of dedicated portals with clearly defined,
better-than-average target groups. An important factor was the vast
experience that the founders have in the women media and internet
industry.' – says Krzysztof Nowinski, member of the board of bmp Polska who
was responsible for executing the transaction and will be the Chairman of
the Supervisory Board of Republika Kobiet.pl.

' We are happy about the 11th bmp’s investment in Poland. I’m confident
that the aim of the Company to become number 1 on the market by 2009 is
realistic, despite the competition from growing online activities of the
publishing houses in Poland and other existing online initiatives' – says
Jens Spyrka, CEO of bmp Media Investors, which is the lead-investor in
Republika Kobiet.

'Investment in Republika Kobiet is our first Polish investment and a second
one in Central-Eastern Europe, after Quintura.com – a Russian internet
search engine operator. It is part of our strategy to search for and invest
in companies in early stages of their development which have the talent and
potential to become global players. We will actively support the
development of Republika Kobiet using our experience in managing technology
and media companies.' – adds Hugo Mahieu, principal at Mangrove Capital
Partners.

As a step in launching the portal, Republika Kobiet, together with TV4 has
launched a webpage of a women-dedicated programme Mala Czarna, broadcast
daily by TV4. Under www.malaczarna.republikakobiet.pl the internet users
can share their opinions on the issues touched on in the programme which is
hosted by Katarzyna Montgomery – editor-in-chief of Republika Kobiet.pl.

About bmp:
As an internationally operating private equity asset manager, bmp invests
own resources directly into company participations and, at the same time,
is engaged as a funds manager for funds of funds and as a private equity
advisor. To its shareholdings, bmp supplies not only capital, but also 10
years of comprehensive know-how as a business developer. With the
experience from more than 80 own shareholdings, 13 initial public offers,
as well as more than 25 trade sales from the portfolio, bmp is among the
most competent venture capital companies in Germany and Poland. The bmp
Media Investors is a thematically specialised venture capital company under
management of bmp, entering into shareholdings exclusively in the area of
media, entertainment, and marketing services in Germany and Poland. Beside
Republika Kobiet, the present portfolio of bmp Media Investors comprises
nugg.ad AG in Berlin, Brand New World GmbH in Munich, gamigo AG in Rheine,
Nokaut Sp.z.o.o. in Gynia, Shotgun Pictures GmbH in Stuttgart and
Greenhanger GmbH in Berlin.

About Mangrove Capital Partners:
Mangrove Capital Partners 'Mangrove' provides venture capital to
entrepreneurs looking to build world class companies. Its mission is to
help turn visions into realities by providing financing, thoughtful advice,
relevant experience and deep industry relationships to our portfolio
companies. Mangrove has invested in, among others, the following companies:
Skype (www.skype.com), Lumension (www.lumension.com), Dialcom Networks
(www.dialcom.com), Nimbuzz (www.nimbuzz.com), Properazzi
(www.properazzi.com), Seatwave (www.seatwave.com), Quintura
(www.quintura.com ) and Piczo (www.piczo.com).

For further information:

Corinna Riewe
Investor Relations
criewe@bmp.com

Tel: +49 30 20 30 5-567
Fax: +49 30 20 30 5- 555

bmp AG, Schlüterstraße 38, 10629 Berlin

www.bmp.com

ISIN DE0003304200

This issue of Corporate News represents neither an offering nor a request
for the tendering of bids for the purchase of securities – particularly not
in the US and not in any countries or jurisdictions in which offers,
requests for the tendering of bids for purchases or for sales would not be
permitted without previous registration or approval in accordance with the
stipulations of the respectively applicable securities regulations.

This issue of Corporate News represents neither an offer for the sale of
individual proprietary shares nor a request for the submission of an offer
for the purchase of individual shares; it is intended solely for
information purposes.
09.11.2007 Financial News transmitted by DGAP

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Language: English
Issuer: bmp AG
Schlüterstraße 38
10629 Berlin
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)30 20 305-0
Fax: +49 (0)30 20 305-532
E-mail: ir@bmp.com
Internet: www.bmp.com
ISIN: DE0003304200
WKN: 330420
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
in Berlin, Stuttgart, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf; Foreign
Exchange(s) Warschau

End of News DGAP News-Service

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