Doha-based television network Al Jazeera is the latest company to be linked with buying a majority stake in Turkish DTH provider Digiturk.
According to reports, the fast growing news network is eyeing the satellite broadcaster as part of its…
Doha-based television network Al Jazeera is the latest company to be linked with buying a majority stake in Turkish DTH provider Digiturk.
According to reports, the fast growing news network is eyeing the satellite broadcaster as part of its international expansion strategy, which has been driven in particular by acquiring sports broadcasting rights. Last year Digiturk won the rights to broadcast Turkey’s top football league for a further three years.
Al Jazeera has allegedly hired Barclays Capital to advise it a potential bid.
There has been a flurry of interest in Digiturk ever since the Turkish state run Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) took control of Turkish diversified holding company Çukurova’s 53% stake earlier this year. The assets were seized after the latter missed certain commercial repayments.
The incumbent telco Turk Telecom submitted a US$530m non-binding bid in July to “open the doors to negotiations.”
This was then followed by a US$742m offer from Turkish media giant Dogan Group in September. But this proposal is thought unlikely to be successful due to Dogan’s control of Turkey’s other major DTH firm D-Smart.
The remaining 47% of Digiturk is owned by private equity fund Providence Equity Partners, which has itself previously been linked with both a full takeover and sale of the satellite TV provider.
Providence bought its holding for around US$250m in 2006 and planned to float Digiturk in 2007 only for poor market conditions to stymie the plan.
In October 2011, SatelliteFinance sources suggested that early stage talks were taking place over the sale of Providence’s stake, valued at just under US$1bn. Potential interest at the time was thought to have come from media players such as Canal+ and Liberty Global, and sponsors including Apax, BC Partners and Carlyle.
