Swedish media group Bonnier has taken full control of its satellite TV unit C More by snapping up Norwegian telco Telenor’s 35% stake for an undisclosed sum.
It is the second divesture for Telenor’s broadcast unit in recent months, following the…
Swedish media group Bonnier has taken full control of its satellite TV unit C More by snapping up Norwegian telco Telenor’s 35% stake for an undisclosed sum.
It is the second divesture for Telenor’s broadcast unit in recent months, following the SFr200m (US$226m) sale of its TV security unit Conax earlier this year.
The Norwegian giant agreed to buy the stake from Bonnier in 2009 for around SKr787m (US$102m). That deal came just a year after Bonnier acquired all of C More from German broadcasting group ProSiebenSat in a transaction thought to be worth roughly €320m (US$396m).
C More chairman Casten Almqvist, who is also Bonnier’s head of broadcasting, said: “By taking over as sole owner, we are now creating full freedom of action for our work of identifying the best possible structure and direction for C More going forward, and for coming up with an optimal way of exploiting and developing C More’s very strong rights portfolio to best effect.”
Last week C More announced that its CEO Johan Kleberg was moving to head Bonnier’s book retailer Adlibris – a move a spokesman said was not connected to today’s takeover.
He will be replaced by Manfred Aronsson, a former executive at Swedish media conglomerate Modern Times Group (MTG), on 18 August.
Both Bonnier and MTG have been subjected to reported speculation over the years that they could make a play for Scandinavian DTH firm Canal Digital, which is owned by Telenor.
In 2012 MTG sought to draw a line under the chatter, publicly saying it was no longer interested in the broadcaster despite a decade of speculation that they could merge.
Bonnier declined to comment on the rumours, and a source close to the group played down prospects for targeting Canal Digital after the C More takeover.
Bonnier hired Roschier for legal advice on its deal with Telenor.
It hired UBS for financial advice for the ProSiebenSat deal back in 2011.
C More, which until 2012 was called Canal+ and is held under Bonnier’s TV4 Group, has operations in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.
