ProSieben shareholders sell shares

The investment group led by US billionaire Haim Saban sells its majority stake in ProSiebenSat.1. The majority shareholders are using a financial transaction to do this without giving up shares. German Media Partners, in which the investors' shares are bundled, announced on Wednesday that it intends to use the stake as collateral for debt financing of EUR 1.25 billion. The transaction is expected to be completed in June. The proceeds will be distributed among the investors in the group. The transaction is being managed by the investment bank JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank. No further details were disclosed. German Media Partners holds 50.5 percent of the shares and 88 percent of the voting rights in ProSiebenSat.1. Saban's group of investors joined the TV group around three years ago after the Kirch Group went bankrupt and invested an estimated EUR 525 million in several tranches for the majority stake.
In February, the sale of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group to the Axel Springer publishing group failed due to opposition from the German Cartel Office. In this sale, Saban's group would have received around EUR 2.5 billion for its entire stake.