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

Full ownership of APF is key to the realisation of Infront’s 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. From today, it will be called Infront Austria GmbH and is being re-branded to conform with the Infront corporate identity. Until now, APF has marketed itself simply as 'an Infront Group company'.

An impressive winter sports portfolio
Infront Austria has offices in Vienna and Lustenau. The company is a leader in the marketing of winter sports. It 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 is equally impressive, with a group of long-standing partners including such major brands as Adidas, Audi, Bauhaus, Bet-at-home, DKB, Ehrmann, E.ON Ruhrgas, Erdinger, Generali, Intersport, Kraft Foods, Longines, Rauch, and Viessmann.

Dr. Stefan Seykora will remain Managing Director of Infront Austria. Volker Schmid will step down from his position as Managing Director 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 excellent relationships with its key clients.

“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,” said Philippe Blatter, President & CEO of Infront Sports & Media. He added: “During the past four years, the two companies have complemented each other very welI 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.”


Bruno Marty, Infront’s Executive Director Winter Sports, 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.”

Dr. Stefan Seykora said: “We are very confident about the future and proud to carry the Infront name and identity. Operating as part of the Infront Group, we have already achieved a great deal and it has been proven that a joint operation opens doors to new opportunities for our clients and our staff.”