Bryan, Garnier & Co advises LeGuide.com on the acquisition of Ciao! from Microsoft

Paris, 16 April 2012 – Bryan, Garnier & Co advised LeGuide.com on the acquisition of Ciao! from Microsoft. With this transaction, LeGuide.com becomes the leading independent online shopping guide in Europe.

Founded in 1999 and present in 7 countries – Germany, United-Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and Sweden – Ciao is the number one shopping guide in Europe with an audience of 19.1 million Unique Visitors*. Since its integration into Microsoft, Ciao has also been operating Bing’s shopping engine in Europe.

With this acquisition, LeGuide.com becomes the number one independent shopping guide in Europe with an audience of 19.1 million of Unique Visitors for Ciao and 16.8 million Unique Visitors for LeGuide.com*, reaching an audience of 31.8 million Unique Visitors.

“We are delighted to have finalised this acquisition. It represents a considerable step forward in our development strategy. Our new company profile provides us a powerful and unique position on the European market in addition of having a strong European brand,” comments Corinne Lejbowicz, chairman of LeGuide.com Group.

Virginie Lazès, Managing Partner and Head of Corporate Finance at Bryan, Garnier & Co, adds: “Bryan Garnier has been a financial advisor to LeGuide.com for several years. We are very pleased to accompany the group in this strategic move, through which LeGuide.com is becoming Europe’s leading independent online shopping guide.”