Turkish media giant Dogan Group has made a US$742m bid for the 53% stake in local DTH firm Digiturk that was seized by the country’s government earlier this year.
The offer trumps a US$530m proposal submitted by incumbent telco Turk Telecom, which…
Turkish media giant Dogan Group has made a US$742m bid for the 53% stake in local DTH firm Digiturk that was seized by the country’s government earlier this year.
The offer trumps a US$530m proposal submitted by incumbent telco Turk Telecom, which placed a non-binding bid in July to “open the doors to negotiations”.
However, Dogan’s control of Turkey’s other major DTH firm D-Smart could prompt competition concerns.
In a short statement on Turkey’s stock exchange today, Dogan said its offer was also non-binding.
Although the stake is owned by Turkish diversified holding company Çukurova, the shares came under the control of the state’s Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) after it missed certain commercial repayments.
The rest of the company is held by Providence Equity Partners, which has been linked in the past as both a possible buyer and seller of Digiturk. The private equity firm was unable to comment on speculation.
Turk Telecom told SatelliteFinance in late July that it would be open to buying the whole of Digiturk, although TMSF has since been cited saying its offer for half of the company was too low.
TMSF head Şakir Ercan Gül reportedly said that, unlike other assets it had seized from Çukurova, Digiturk is a healthy company and as such has attracted three other potential bidders, including foreign-owned companies.
Digiturk’s attractiveness is largely driven by the rights it won last year to broadcast Turkey’s top football league for a further three years.
