Aspiro announces that it is to acquire the Swedish wireless company Picofun AB

In order to strengthen its position as a leading provider of mobile services, Aspiro announces that it is to acquire the Swedish company Picofun AB. Picofun publishes and distributes mobile games and entertainment services. The acquisition complements and expands Aspiro’s own range of products by almost 80 attractive mobile applications and more than doubles its customer base of mobile operators.

Picofun is one of Europe’s leading distributors of mobile games and entertainment applications with a portfolio of some 80 exciting applications. Aspiro develops and markets mobile applications focused on entertainment services. Consequently, Picofun’s own product range is an ideal complement to Aspiro’s current portfolio of services.

Picofun’s customer base comprises of 27 mobile operators and portals, 21 of these are new to Aspiro, including Telefonica (Spain), Virgin (England), Orange (France) and Cingular (USA). Together Aspiro and Picofun will now reach some 200 million mobile phone users in Europe and North America.

"Mobile games and other entertainment services are mainly used by young people, therefore Picofun’s services are a perfect complement to Aspiro’s own product offerings," says Håkan Persson, Aspiro’s CEO. "There is a great amount of interest among operators for these types of services which are tailored to specific target groups.”

The acquisition will be financed by two non-cash share issues equivalent to approximately 12.9 million shares and a cash sum of SEK 5.5 million conditional upon the approval of the extra general meeting of stockholders on August 23. The dilution effect on Aspiro’s share capital will be approximately fifteen percent.

"The acquisition of Picofun is one of several planned consolidating moves aimed at strengthening Aspiro’s position as the dominating provider of mobile services in Europe and North America," states Håkan Persson. "We are currently holding talks with a number of companies to strengthen still further Aspiro’s customer base and distribution network."