Zed in bed with Monster

Cell phone company to nab British rival

By JOHN HOPEWELL

Fast-growing Spanish cell-phone content company LaNetro Zed looks set to take over troubled British rival MonsterMob.

LaNetro Zed has offered £34 million ($66.4 million) for a controlling 52.6% stake in MonsterMob.

MonsterMob's board has welcomed the bid. "The agreement with Zed secures the financial position of MonsterMob and brings significant strategic and operational benefits," said MonsterMob chairman Hans Snook.

Offer has to be approved at a MonsterMob shareholders' general meeting.

MonsterMob's shares crashed 88% last year after authorities in China required cell-phone service providers to notify clients of the cost of services before their receipt. The double-checking makes service takeup far more laborious. MonsterMob had bought into three Chinese companies, and about half of its revenues came from China.

According to LaNetro Zed chairman and founder Javier Perez Dolset, LaNetro Zed could supply MonsterMob with LaNetro's mobile product applications. These include its ample library of cell-phone games, ringtones, screensavers, route finders and lifestyle guides.

LaNetro's play for MonsterMob comes as the Planeta Group, one of Spain's biggest publishing houses, has bought a 25% stake in LaNetro Zed.

While reinforcing LaNetro Zed's growth capacity, Planeta's entry offers obvious synergies, both in Planeta's traditional book and publishing business and with its film and TV venture, DeAPlaneta, which is the managing shareholder of Spanish broadcaster Antena 3 TV.