9 July 2009

Acquisition of bol.com by Cyrte Investments completed

NPM Capital also set to become a shareholder in bol.com

The acquisition of bol.com, the largest media store of the Netherlands, was successfully completed on Tuesday 23 June 2009. This was a few days after the Dutch investment company Cyrte Investments had obtained the required approval from the Dutch Competition Authority (Nederlandse Mededingingsautoriteit - NMa). In addition it is announced that NPM Capital has obtained the right to acquire half of the interest of Cyrte Investments in bol.com. NPM Capital will first sell its interest in Boekhandels Groep Nederland before it is to exercise this right.

Daniel Ropers, Managing Director of bol.com: ‘We are proud to be able to welcome NPM Capital as a shareholder soon, alongside Cyrte Investments. It already became clear to us early on in the selling process, at the start of this year, that NPM Capital could be a good new shareholder for bol.com. NPM Capital, as our country’s oldest venture capital company, has enormous experience with companies opting for a growth strategy and is prepared to undertake long-term commitments. Bol.com recently stated its intention to invest substantially in further expanding the company. With the support of Cyrte Investments and NPM Capital, two strong Dutch investment companies, we can proceed to do so.’

Jan Willem Baud, director of NPM Capital: ‘We intend to participate in bol.com as this equity investment closely matches NPM Capital’s investment strategy. Bol.com is a highly enterprising company offering attractive growth potential in a market that is important to us, online retailing.’

Cyrte Investments, established in Naarden, has Delta Lloyd as a majority shareholder. The investment fund is active for numerous Dutch institutional investors.

NPM Capital is a subsidiary of SHV Holdings and operates from its offices in Amsterdam and Brussels. The venture capital company currently holds stakes in approximately forty companies.

Bol.com was founded in March 1999. Today, the media store has over two million customers in the Netherlands, who purchased over 11 million products from it in 2008. Bol.com is the market leader in the field of online sales of books, entertainment products and electronics, and the largest internet store of the Netherlands. Visitors of the media store have access to over 2 million items in categories including Dutch and English books, second-hand books, music, DVDs, notebooks, software, PC accessories, games, electronics, mobile telephony, and LCD and plasma televisions.

Market research shows that bol.com is also the most popular internet store among Dutch consumers. This appreciation by consumers is evident from increasing visits and sales as well as numerous prizes awarded by the public. In 2008 bol.com was chosen as winner of the National Home-Shopping Awards (Nationale Thuiswinkel Awards), in the category Consumer electronics, Books, CDs and DVDs, for the third time in a row. The media store also garnered this year’s main prize for ‘Best webstore of the Netherlands’. Dutch consumers also elected bol.com as one of the most customer-friendly businesses of the Netherlands in 2008, for the second time. In addition, bol.com won the ‘Click or Brick Award 2008’ (Best Store of the Netherlands), the consumer price for which no distinction is drawn between traditional shops and webstores.