Alliance Trace Media Acquires Trace Magazine

Posted on February 22, 2003

Alliance Trace Media, B.V. (Trace), announced that it has acquired selected assets of Trace Magazine in the US and UK and purchased from MCM Group (Lagardere), 80 percent of MCM Africa, the largest urban television channel in France. MCM Africa will be renamed Trace@MCM. Trace also announced that it has closed on a financial investment by a group of investors, led by Goldman Sachs.

Commenting on the investment, Tim Ingrassia, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and member of Trace's new board of directors, said, "There is growing market opportunity for this type of media firm. The fact that the new company, Alliance Trace Media has operations both in Europe and the United States, was an especially attractive feature to us."

Trace Magazine, a bi-monthly music, fashion and lifestyle title, is currently published in the US and the UK and distributed in some 28 countries worldwide on a limited basis. Trace was Launched in London in 1996 by Claude Grunitzky. Trace, which relocated to the US in 1998, re-launched its UK edition in September 2002. Annual issues include specials on music, art, and fashion and the popular "Black Girls Rule!" issue. Trace will launch a French edition of the magazine by fall 2003 and plans to increase the distribution and frequency of its US and UK publications.

Trace@MCM, a cable and satellite digital station to be launched in April 2003, will be operated in partnership with MCM Group and will feature music, news, fashion and cultural programming targeting the new urban multicultural youth in France and French-speaking territories in Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean. MCM Group owns and operates the leading music television channel in France. MCM's sister company, Hachette Filipacchi Medias, is one of the world's top magazine publishers with some 222 titles, such as Elle, Paris Match, Car and Driver, and Premiere. Trace will also produce TV programming for iMCM, the DTTV version of MCM.

Commenting on the announcement, Trace Chairman and CEO, Richard Wayner, said, "This is a tremendously ambitious venture. To my knowledge, this is the first time that a major financial institution and a leading international media firm have decided to pursue the multicultural market with the same energy and determination in Europe as the multicultural market has already been pursued in America. I am thrilled that Trace has been chosen to lead what I believe will be a memorable and remarkable project. We are confident that we are building a unique international media platform that will connect young people around the world, especially in urban centers."