Luxembourg, 19 September 2022: Sterling Active Fund (“SAF”) confirms that on the 19th of September 2022 it exited its position in Otello Corporation ASA (“Otello”), a media conglomerate listed in Norway.  

Sterling originally commenced its investment in Otello upon key shareholders of the Company expressing their frustration in being unable to realise their value in the holding and thereby the need for an expert, active investor like Sterling to get involved to facilitate a break-up of Otello.

During SAF’s holding period, Otello executed on two key initiatives: (1) it sold the Adtech business AdColony to US-listed Digital Turbine at an attractive valuation and (2) it IPO’d the Brazilian subsidiary Bemobi (a mobile platform for gaming and microfinance). These efforts culminated in the restructuring of Otello being largely complete and with the shareholders receiving a significant special dividend on the 18th of August 2022, SAF elected to exit its holding via the market. 

SAF’s exit from Otello is an example of an “involved” investment case with an activist angle which in this situation involved the break-up of a conglomerate with operating entities which had no synergies. 

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Otello Corporation ASA, a company listed in Norway, is an internet company which develops advertising and mobile software for operators, publishers and advertisers. 

Sterling Active Fund, is the second fund launched by Sterling Strategic Value in October 2020.  SAF is open for subscriptions. 

Sterling Strategic Value, is one of Europe’s oldest Activist investors founded in 1999 and with a track record of over 50 successful activist investment entry and exits.