Telecom incumbent France Telecom (FT) may consider a potential partnership with another bidder to acquire a stake in satellite television broadcaster TVN, CEO Stephane Richard was quoted telling Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
But a spokesperson for FT…
Telecom incumbent France Telecom (FT) may consider a potential partnership with another bidder to acquire a stake in satellite television broadcaster TVN, CEO Stephane Richard was quoted telling Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
But a spokesperson for FT reiterated that the company has no intention to buy a stake on its own, and that it would only potentially consider taking a minority interest if it is invited to join a partnership with another company.
In early July, Polish media conglomerate ITI Group announced it was considering selling its majority 56.21% stake in TVN.
Five buyers have reportedly been approached: French media group Vivendi; Discovery Communications; Time Warner; Bertelsmann, which owns the RTL Group; and Fox Broadcasting Company.
The latter is part of the Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, currently under fire amid the phone hacking scandal in the UK.
According to local reports, the stake could be valued at as much as PLN6.8bn (US$2.5bn). As of 8 July 2011, Warsaw Stock Exchange-listed TVN had a market cap of PLN5.5bn (US$2bn).
To help review its strategic options, ITI has hired JP Morgan and Nomura.
TVN owns ten TV channels as well as digital pay-TV platform ‘n’, which it acquired outright in April 2010 after it purchased the 49% stake that it did not already own.
France Telecom is already present in Poland with a majority stake in Polish incumbent Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA).
