Sony confirms £137.5 million 2waytraffic move

Sony has confirmed it has made a takeover offer for 2waytraffic. The offer values the company at £137.5 million ($279 million) and represents a 40.6% premium on the 2waytraffic share price.

Company founders Kees Abrahams, Unico Glorie and Taco Ketelaar will receive less per share but are entitled to earn out payments that are linked to the ongoing performance of the company. Sony will pay an initial £114.3 million, which could rise to £137.5 million depending upon the earn out payments.

Sony Pictures Entertainment chief Michael Lynton said the deal would complement its scripted production business and speed up the growth in the light entertainment realm.

2waytraffic issued a trading update on March 13 and said that despite a ‘challenging 2007′ it expects to record an EBITDA profit of Euro29 million ($ 45.2 million) for the year. At end-2007 it had about Euro70 million of debt.