Agreement with Domain Venture Partners

RNS Number : 2755A

CentralNic Group PLC

18 February 2014

 



Press Release

18 February 2014

CentralNic Group plc

("CentralNic" or "the Company" or "the Group")

CentralNic Signs Agreement with Domain Venture Partners

CentralNic plc (AIM:CNIC), the internet platform business which derives revenues from the worldwide sale of internet domain names, today announces that it has signed an agreement ("agreement") with Domain Venture Partners' new investment fund, DVP II, whereby the Company has been selected to be the registry service provider for certain registries acquired by DVP II; meaning that CentralNic's platform will be used to enable their domain names to be purchased through domain name retailers ("registrars") worldwide.

Domain Venture Partners ("DVP") recently launched DVP II as an investment fund, with a target size of US$400 million, to acquire Top-Level Domain registries, some of which are already live.  DVP (through DVP I) invested in 60 companies which applied for licenses to operate generic TLD registries, and has become one of the largest registry operator groups.

Commenting on the agreement between CentralNic and DVP II, Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic said: "This presents a fantastic new opportunity for CentralNic, and we are delighted to be working with the market leading professionals within the banking, legal and technology fields that support DVP II.  This agreement not only fits well with our stated strategy to increase the inventory of Top-Level Domains carried by our platform, but also confirms CentralNic's position as market leader in providing registry services.  In addition to the potential to accelerate top-line and bottom-line growth for CentralNic, our experience and expertise in promoting registries will complement Domain Venture Partners' already formidable Sales and Marketing capability.  We look forward to working with the team at DVP II as both companies seek to expand our presence in the market."

"CentralNic is an organisation that shares our passion to develop and transform the global domain name market place", said Charles Melvin, Chief Operating Officer at Domain Venture Partners.  "We are delighted to welcome CentralNic as a preferred technology back-end provider.  We have been impressed by CentralNic's experience in operating successful registry back-end services as well as its proven ability to market and help distribute domain names in a strategic and creative manner."

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For further information:

CentralNic Group plc
Ben Crawford (CEO)	[phone]
Domain Venture Partners
Charles Melvin (COO)	[phone]
Zeus Capital
Ross Andrews / Nick Cowles ( Corporate Finance)	[phone]
John Goold (Institutional Sales)	[phone]
Abchurch Communications
Joanne Shears / Olivia Stuart Taylor	[phone]
[e-mail]	www.abchurch-group.com

About CentralNic Group plc 

·    CentralNic (LSE: CNIC) is a leading provider of registry services to the global market for domain names and is headquartered in London. The Company has developed a proprietary platform for powering and distributing domain names, and is the exclusive global distributor for domains using 55 different domain extensions. These include .la (for domains such as http://intel.la), .uk.com (for domains such as http://avon.uk.com), and .us.com (for domains such as http://activia.us.com).

·    CentralNic's distribution network includes 1500 registrars - entities such as GoDaddy and Network Solutions in over 80 countries that retail domain names directly to the public and wholesale them through an additional network of over 100,000 resellers. End users register these domain names as an address for their websites, as a defensive measure to protect their brands online, as a method of capturing internet traffic and achieving desired rankings on search engines, and as an investment.

·    CentralNic distributes domains on behalf of their clients - rights-holders or "registries" - on a revenue share basis. CentralNic-distributed domains use an annual registration fee model, paid in advance by the end users, providing a predictable annuity revenue stream for both CentralNic and its clients.

·    Prior to the agreement, CentralNic was already selected as the Registry Service Provider and distributor for over 60 applications for new Top-Level Domains (TLDs) - a program devised by the domain industry regulator ICANN to supplement the existing TLDs such as .com and .co.uk with new domain extensions in the most significant change to the internet since its inception. It will be launching such domains as .college, .bar, .wiki, .xyz, .feedback, .contact, .rest and .ink. CentralNic will also be distributing additional TLDs from a further list of 25 that have passed initial evaluation and are currently in the process of contention resolution, including .app, .art, .blog, .law, .llc, .mail, .news, and school.

·    CentralNic's clients acquiring and funding these new TLDs include a number of successful entrepreneurs as well as Global 1000 companies such as Saudi Telecom, Qatar Telecom, Etisalat and Kuwait Finance House, and media and entertainment industry leaders The Guardian and William Morris Endeavor, the world's largest talent agency.

·     CentralNic is itself the rights holder for 24 domain extensions, including .us.com, .eu.com, .uk.com, .ru.com and .cn.com. It therefore retains 100% of the wholesale revenues for domains using those domain extensions.

·    CentralNic is the owner of a portfolio of premium domain names including 18 two-letter .com domains including http://us.com and http://uk.com.

·    In addition to its growth as a global distributor of domain names, the Directors believe that there is potential for CentralNic to also become a significant retailer of domain names direct to end users, and CentralNic has already obtained the necessary accreditations, built the technology, signed initial contracts and commenced trading as a domain name retailer.

All Group information and news can be found at http://www.centralnic.com

About Domain Venture Partners

Domain Venture Partners was founded to create a bridge between the demand for and supply of finance, and the provision of technical support in relation to ICANN's new generic Top Level Domain (TLD) name process. It has since evolved to become the only regulated structured investment fund group for experienced investors to benefit from returns generated by investing in and managing TLD registries. DVP provides investors with a clean and direct access to an uncorrelated asset class, which would ordinarily be out of the reach of individual investors.

 

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