Indiantelevision.com Team

(1 July 2009 8:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Four years after its acquisition of a majority shareholding in the Austrian sports marketing agency APF Marketing Services, Infront Sports and Media has now reached an agreement to purchase the remaining 25 per cent shareholding from the company’s senior management, Volker Schmid and Dr. Stefan Seykora.

Infront says that full ownership of APF is key to the realisation of its long-term strategy of building sports marketing leadership in winter sports. Infront is now taking immediate steps to complete the full integration of APF within the Infront Group.

It will be called Infront Austria and is being re-branded to conform with the Infront corporate identity. Until now, APF has marketed itself simply as 'an Infront Group company'.

Infront Austria has offices in Vienna and Lustenau. The company markets winter sports and successfully distributed the marketing rights to the biennial FIS Alpine World Ski Championships and the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in 2007 and 2009.

The company also holds the major sponsorship rights to the E.ON Ruhrgas IBU Word Cup Biathlon and the IBU World Championships Biathlon through an exclusive contract with the International Biathlon Union and the national biathlon federations up to and including the 2013/2014 season. Its impressive winter sports portfolio also encompasses title and presenting sponsorships of all FIS World Cup events in the Nordic disciplines.

Infront Austria’s sponsor client list includes brands like Adidas, Audi, Longines, Rauch, and Viessmann.

Dr. Stefan Seykora will remain Infront Austria MD. Schmid will step down from his position as MD by the end of 2009 and will then join the company’s Advisory Board. This will ensure continuity of experience and maintain the company's relationships with its key clients.

Infront Sports and Media President and CEO Philippe Blatter says, “We welcome Infront Austria as a full member of the Infront family. The re-naming of APF is the visible expression that the integration process is now complete and this will further strengthen the perception of Infront as one of the world’s most respected sports marketing brands.

“During the past four years, the two companies have complemented each other very well and our position in winter sports is now very strong and very apparent. I am convinced that Infront Austria be off to a flying start under its new name. We have reached the point when the only subsidiaries that are not labelled Infront are Host Broadcast Services and Empire of Sports.”

Infront executive director Winter Sports, Bruno Marty commented, “In Switzerland, Austria and Italy, we have a very strong and experienced base in winter sports. The marketing sales and servicing synergies are exciting and the horizons continue to expand. We want to thank Volker Schmid for the outstanding contribution he has made to the development of APF and also his involvement over the past four years in making the integration a success. We are looking forward to continuing our relationship with him in his new advisory role after 2009.”