[London, ENGLAND] QXL.com early this week completed its acquisition of a majority interest in Scandinavian online auction service Bidlet AB.

QXL.com now has 50.4 per cent of Bidlet and expects its public offer for the remaining shares and warrants to be completed by August 2000.

The acquisition greatly strengthens QXL.com's position in Scandinavia, combining its existing online auction sites in Norway and Denmark with Bidlet's sites in Sweden and Finland.

Jim Rose, chief executive of QXL.com, said the deal was a basis for accelerated growth in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, where Internet usage is amongst the highest levels in Europe.

"Scandinavia is technologically ahead of the rest of Europe in a number of areas, such as mobile telecommunications, and this acquisition will enable QXL to roll out enhanced services to our customers across Europe, including two-way SMS bidding and WAP," said Rose.