German Pay-TV Plans IPO

German pay-television channel Premiere, which narrowly escaped bankruptcy in 2002, said Monday it planned to go public in March. The proceeds raised from the stock exchange listing, estimated at several hundreds of millions of euros, would be used to repay debt and finance growth, Premiere said in a statement. Newspaper reports have speculated recently that Premiere was planning an initial public offering (IPO) by May at the latest. Earlier this month, chairman Georg Kofler said that Premiere was sticking to its plans for a flotation this year. Premiere was recently reincorporated as a joint stock company in preparation for such a move. It is majority owned by the private equity group Permira, which holds a stake of 54.76 percent. Chairman Kofler holds 20.46 percent and the remainder is held by banks.