Arvato, the printing subsidiary of German media giant Bertelsmann, is planning to take over Infoscore, a German financial service provider, and to integrate its own financial services division, which includes 600 staff, into the company. A new joint venture, Arvato-Infoscore, will be formed, with an annual turnover of 250m to 300m euros and 1,700 staff in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and Hungary. Bertelsmann hopes that the takeover will enable it to expand its business with financial services.
Bertelsmann Arvato will initially have a stake of 63 per cent in the new company, while Sigmund Kiener, the founder of Infoscore, will own the remaining 37 per cent. Bertelsmann will also have an option to increase its stake to 100 per cent in a few years. The new company will be involved in business with factoring and credit and risk assessment, among other areas. The company's share of the market is expected to be a single-digit percentage.
