TV Merger Announced
June 27, 2007
The deal is worth 3.3 billion euros ($4.42 billion) and will create a media conglomerate that will rival European market leader RTL.
The German company said it has already signed a contract for a 100 percent stake in SBS. The merger was expected to be finalized at the beginning of July. The transaction reportedly did not require approval of competition authorities.
The deal doesn't come as a surprise. Equity firms own a majority stake in both companies. Earlier in the month, ProSiebenSat.1 CEO Guillaume de Posch said he expected a decision on the takeover by the end of the summer.
It will offer 24 free television channels, 24 pay television channels and 22 radio networks, with the potential to reach 77 million households.
Savings expected
"In slow-growing TV markets such as Europe, companies need to consolidate to gain scale," Vivek Couto, executive director of research firm Media Partners Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg.
The acquisition will allow ProSiebenSat.1 to gain access to SBS's businesses in faster-growing markets such as Scandinavia, Hungary and Romania, Couto told Bloomberg.
ProSiebenSat.1 expects synergies of between €80 million and €90 million a year by 2010, mostly from cost savings.
The merged group will keep the name ProSiebenSat.1.