Signing Stella Pictures 100% (Haas, Michel, Hunzinger, 16.5.2022)

Frankfurt am Main/Hamburg, May 18, 2022 - Following the acquisition of 51% of the Stella Pictures AB (Stockholm) Swedish public company in 2019, the full takeover of the renowned Swedish agency by the Hamburg-based ddp media GmbH picture agency group will take place on June 1, 2022.

Stella Pictures has over 10 million editorial images and since 2004 has stood for outstanding productions about the royals of Scandinavia as well as for exclusive photos from the areas of celebrities, entertainment, news, and sports. Its successful integration into the ddp Group is also an important building block for a European network of leading independent agencies that are reliable, flexible, and, above all, visually relevant.

Since 2021, action press AG (Frankfurt am Main) has been the parent company of the ddp group. With the full acquisition of this company, the board members of action press AG, Prof. Moritz Hunzinger and Ulli Michel, are further expanding the exclusive image offering and reaching another milestone on the way to becoming one of the most important partners for the production and licensing of rights-managed images in Europe.

Every day, action press AG processes up to 50,000 photos from 5,000 photographers and 130 partner agencies from 120 countries and indexes them according to the highest editorial standards. With around 150 million photos (as of October 2021), action press is one of the largest photo databases in the world. The share capital of action press AG amounts to 22.05 million euros. A further 22.05 million shares serve as acquisition currency. The shares of action press AG are traded in the general over-the-counter market of the Düsseldorf Stock Exchange under WKN A3ESE3 (ISIN DE000A3ESE35). In 2022, the shares are to be listed on the Xetra stock exchange.

Stella Pictures AB website: https://www.stellapictures.se