Elisa becomes the main owner of Sulake Corporation Oy

Press release 7 February 2013

Elisa shall acquire Sulake Corporation Oy. Sulake will continue as an independent company and will serve its customers under the Habbo brand.

Elisa has signed an agreement that covers the purchase of the Sulake shares owned by other principal shareholders. The purchase enables Elisa to increase its ownership from 24 percent to 85 percent. In addition, Elisa will purchase the company's remaining shares. The purchase will be completed in February, 2013. The transaction will not cause any changes in Sulake's operations, and the company will continue its business as before under the Habbo brand. In addition, the acquisition has no effect on Elisa's future outlook or mid-term financial targets.

-Elisa has had an ownership in Sulake from the beginning and has supported the international expansion of the Habbo Hotel service. The global client base, brand, community platform and solid business competence of Sulake, combined with Elisa's expertise, provide new future opportunities, says Mikael Rönnblad, Vice President of Consumer Services Business of Elisa.

- I am delighted to acknowledge that our long time investor is increasing their ownership and by that showing their trust to our company's business, says CEO of Sulake, Markku Ignatius.

Sulake is an internationally known brand which creates social meeting places and games on the Internet. The most familiar of Sulake's services is Habbo Hotel, which was designed for teenagers. Habbo Hotel has 12 different language versions and users in 150 countries, and a total of more than four million young people visiting the service every month. Sulake's head office is located in Helsinki. The net revenue of Sulake in 2012 was approximately 22 million euro and the result was negative.

Additional information: Elisa Corporation, Mikael Rönnblad, Vice President, Consumer Services Business, tel. +358 500 448 089 firstname.lastname@elisa.fi

Elisa is a telecommunications and ICT service company. Our online and ICT services provide Finns with experiences, and businesses with productivity. We serve approximately 2.2 million consumers, companies and public administration organisations. As the market leader in mobile subscriptions, we offer the most comprehensive and fast 3G network and 4G speeds in Finland. In 2012, our revenue was €1.55 billion and we employed 3,860 people. We offer international services in partnership with Vodafone and Telenor. For more details, go to www.elisa.com

Sulake is a social entertainment company focused on online social places and games. Our goal is to inspire playful interaction and self-expression in everyone by creating easy to use social online services. Currently, the main service of Sulake is Habbo Hotel, the world's largest online community and social game for teenagers. Sulake's mission is to inspire creativity in people and bring them together by creating fun, social and non-violent online services. We create online communities and online communication tools that are easy to use for everyone. Sulake was founded in 2000. The company is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, and supported by a social media centre based in London, and a user care centre based in Madrid. The number of personnel is around 50.www.sulake.com

Last updated 07.02.2013 10:08

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