Godaddy Europe

GDDY (NYSE: GDDY), the world's leading small business and independent enterprise virtual computing solution provider, today announces that it has reached a final closing on the acquisition of Host Europe Group (HEG) for 1.69 billion (US$1.79 billion), of which 605 million euros are to sellers and 1.08 billion euros in net indebtedness acquired.

The HEG is currently held by the Cinven holding company, which took over the company in August 2013. HEG is the biggest European web service company serving small companies and web professionals and has established a flourishing company with more than 1.7 million people. "The HEG has established an impressing franchise that is generating significant revenue momentum, high margin and industry-leading client satifaction.

Working with HEG, we are accelerating our Europe footprint by delivering a wider array of cloud-based solutions powered by a unified worldwide technological foundation and backed by unprecedented client support to help small business and web design professionals be successful on-line. "Patrick Pulvermüller will manage the merged company's activities in Europe.

While HEG has experienced consistent sales and operating income stream strength, it is on course to achieve approximately $328 million in accounting entries and approximately $139 million in underlying earnings before interest and taxes (EBITDA) in 2016. HEG's acquisition cost of EUR 1.69 billion (USD 1.79 billion) is approximately 11 times HEG's 2016 underlying estimate of underlying EBITDA plus expected full-year synergy effects.

Today HEG encompasses the PlusServer franchise, which services bigger, more sophisticated businesses that need their own external service and customer relationship capabilities. The PlusServer is a high value company with a solid finance background and a first rate executive staff. Future-oriented statements: Disclaimer This news release contains forward-looking information that is within the scope of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Those forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release and are not guaranteed of accuracy or completeness, and are therefore forward-looking by their nature. Those forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risk, uncertainty and other factors that may cause our true results, performance and/or achievements today to be materially different from those described or implied by such forward-looking statement.

These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information presented in this news release. Supplemental information will also be included in other documents that the Company may file with the SEC from Time to Time. Any forward-looking statement made in this news release reflects the information currently available to the Company.

It is our business to provide our clients with the necessary knowledge, skills and resources to turn their own initiatives and visions into reality. Headquartered in London, HEG is one of the UK's top web service companies, one of the UK's biggest registries for domains and a leader in managed web serving in Germany. More than 1.7 million HEG clients with over 7 million managedomainnames.

HEG's goal is to make companies web-enabled like no other. HEG's part in this transition is to help all companies be successful on-line and is focused on enabling its clients to get the most out of the web, whether through its product, its client service or its "How to Guides".