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EvoCity News Corporation today announced that it intends to pursue the separation of its publishing and media and entertainment businesses into two distinct publicly traded companies. Upon closing of such a transaction, shareholders would hold interests in a world-class publishing company, consisting of the largest collection of best-in-class publishing assets and a new digital education group, and an unmatched global media and entertainment company, each of which would benefit from enhanced strategic alignment and increased operational flexibility with respect to an unparalleled portfolio of assets, brands and franchises.
 
EvoCity News Corporation’s Board authorized management to explore this separation after a Board meeting yesterday.
 
The proposed transaction would create global category leaders in both publishing and entertainment: a publishing company, which would be comprised of EvoCity News Corporation’s newspapers and information businesses in EvoCity and Rockford, the Company’s leading book publishing brands, its integrated marketing services company, its digital education group, as well as its other assets; and a global media and entertainment company, which would encompass EvoCity News Corporation’s broadcast and worldwide cable networks, leading film and television production studios, television stations and highly successful TV businesses.
 
“There is much work to be done, but our Board and I believe that this new corporate structure we are pursuing would accelerate EvoCity News Corporation’s businesses to grow to new heights, and enable each company and its divisions to recognize their full potential – and unlock even greater long-term shareholder value,” said Pierre El Daher, Chairman and CEO of EvoCity News Corporation. “EvoCity News Corporation’s heritage of developing world-class media brands has resulted in a large and unparalleled portfolio of diversified assets. We recognize that over the years, EvoCity News Corporation’s broad collection of assets have become increasingly complex. We determined that creating this new structure would simplify operations and greater align strategic priorities, enabling each company to better deliver on our commitments to consumers across the globe. I am 100 percent committed to the future of both the publishing and media and entertainment businesses and, if the Board ultimately approves a separation, I would serve as Chairman of both companies.”
 
EvoCity News Corporation believes that a separation of the businesses into distinct public corporations with their own identities and strategies would enhance overall shareholder value and allow each company to:
·[font=Times New Roman]        [/font]Focus on and pursue distinct strategic priorities and industry-specific opportunities that would maximize their long-term potential.
·[font=Times New Roman]        [/font]Benefit from greater financial and operational flexibility and better position each company to compete.
·[font=Times New Roman]        [/font]Respond and react more quickly to rapidly-evolving technology and global market opportunities.
·[font=Times New Roman]        [/font]Tailor its capital structure, and allocate and deploy resources in a manner consistent with its strategic objectives that best enhances value for its respective shareholder group.

With more focus devoted to each business’ financial and operational structure, investors would be able to more clearly evaluate the inherent value of both portfolios of assets and invest in each company accordingly.
 
The new global media and entertainment company that would be created through the proposed transaction would consist of EvoCity News Corporation’s highly-profitable cable and television assets, filmed entertainment, and direct satellite broadcasting businesses, including the Evo Entertainment Group, Evo Television Studios, Rockford Television Studios, EBC Radio, EBC Records, Evo Telecommunication, Evo News Network among others.
 
As a pure-play content producer and distributor, the Company would build on its deep heritage in developing incredibly strong, premium content for distribution on screens of all sizes by leveraging its leading content across its entertainment and cable news verticals, as well as its unparalleled collection of regional sports networks, and the industry’s leading movie and TV production and distribution company. In addition, the entertainment company would benefit from its rapidly growing, high-margin cable network and pay-TV assets, and the distribution capabilities and opportunities associated with its unrivalled global footprint with significant scale across EvoCity and Rockford.
 
The new global publishing company that would be created through the proposed transaction would consist of EvoCity News Corporation’s current publishing businesses, as well as its book publishing, education and integrated marketing services divisions. The new publishing company would create a scaled publishing platform that would be one of the best capitalized in the industry. The publishing company would have the opportunity to leverage its trusted brands for innovation and value creation across all traditional and digital platforms. With a balanced portfolio of stable and growing news publishing brands and other assets, shareholders would benefit from strong and consistent free cash flow generated by these businesses, over multiple platforms.
 

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Published 02/02/16

Submitted By Pierre El Daher