Dutch TMG Reiterates Interest In ProSieben Assets
12 March 2011 - 12:17AM
Dow Jones News
Dutch publisher Telegraaf Media Groep N.V. (TMG.AE) Friday
reiterated that it is interested in ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG's
(PSM.XE) television and print assets in the Netherlands.
TMG Chief executive Herman van Campenhout said on a conference
call following its full-year results that it remained interested in
the assets but the price has to be right. TMG's Chief Financial
Officer Fred Arp also said that the interest includes Veronica
Magazine and that TMG would consider an acquisition on its own or
with a partner.
ProSiebenSat.1, Europe's second biggest free-to-air broadcaster
in terms of households reached and majority-owned by private equity
firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Permira, said in
December it was conducting a strategic review of the group's Nordic
and Benelux operations--formerly SBS Broadcasting--and subsequently
hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) to run an auction process.
ProSiebenSat.1 acquired SBS in June 2007 in a deal worth EUR3.3
billion. In the Netherlands, ProSiebenSat.1 owns Veronica Magazine
and TotaalTV Magazine as well as free-to-air channels SBS 6, Net5
and Veronica.
Strategic buyers and private equity firms submitted initial bids
among them TMG, owned by John de Mol, billionaire pioneer of
reality show "Big Brother", and Swedish broadcasting company Modern
Times Group MTG AB (MTG-B.SK). U.S. buyout firm Hellman &
Friedman teamed up with Patrick Tillieux, the former chief of SBS
Broadcasting, on a joint bid, people familiar with the situation
told Dow Jones Newswires in February.
-By Andre Sterk, Dow Jones Newswires; +31 20 5715 218;
archibald.preuschat@dowjones.com