US media group Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE:SNI) plans to squeeze out the rest of TVN’s (WSE:TVN) shareholders after buying an extra 46% of the Polish pay-TV broadcaster for about US$833.1m.
US media group Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE:SNI) plans to squeeze out the rest of TVN’s (WSE:TVN) shareholders after buying an extra 46% of the Polish pay-TV broadcaster for about US$833.1m.
Scripps now holds 98.8% of the group after first buying a 52.7% stake in March in a US$1.5bn deal, which included €840m (US$937m) of TVN’s debt. It bought that initial stake from local media holding ITI Group and French DTH firm Canal+.
The US group was required to make an offer that would increase its ownership to up to 66% under Polish law, but said in June that it would seek 100% and delist it from the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Kenneth Lowe, Scripps’s chairman and CEO, said taking full ownership enables it to fully realise the strategic and financial opportunities of the acquisition in one of Europe’s key media markets.
Canal+ previously held 49% of N-Vision, which owned roughly 51% of TVN. ITI, which held the rest of N-Vision, also had a small direct stake in TVN. Other large TVN shareholders had included financial services firms ING, Aviva and PZU.
Canal+ shake-up
Bertrand Meheut has been replaced as Canal+’s chairman after 13 years at the helm amid sweeping changes from billionaire Vincent Bolloré, who chairs its parent group Vivendi.
Bolloré recently upped his stake in Vivendi to about 14.5% to tighten his grip on the company and tackle Canal+’s falling subscriber numbers. The latest executive change came after he was appointed chairman of Canal+’s supervisory board, taking the responsibilities from Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine.
Meheut has been succeeded by Jean-Christophe Thiery, a key executive in Bolloré’s family holding company, although he will continue to advise the group.
Maxime Saad, who was promoted from Canal+’s head of pay-TV to its CEO earlier this year, is keeping his position.
Canal+ also announced that Julien Verley, CEO of the group’s Polish DTH firm nc+, is joining its management board.
Vivendi has built up a multibillion dollar warchest from selling off telecoms and video game assets, and Bolloré has hinted at transformational acquisitions to shake up the company.
