Polish ITI To Pick Buyer For Broadcaster TVN By Weekend-Source
October 18 2011 - 10:17AM
Dow Jones News
Polish entertainment group ITI Holdings SA is expected to choose
between the two remaining bidders for its Warsaw-listed broadcaster
TVN SA (TVN.WA) by the end of this week, a person familiar with the
matter told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday.
The two bidders are media firms Time Warner Inc. (TWX) and
Vivendi SA (VIV.FR). Contrary to some reports, the two companies
are not working on a joint bid, the person said.
Vivendi and ITI declined to comment. Time Warner wasn't
immediately available for comment.
ITI Holdings SA said in July it was considering selling its
controlling 56% stake in TVN, worth about 2.78 billion zlotys ($873
million) at current market prices. JP Morgan and Nomura are
advising ITI on the sale.
In early September another person familiar with the matter told
Dow Jones Newswires that France's Vivendi was most interested in
TVN's pay-TV unit Platforma "n", and was looking to spin off the
Polish company's web portal Onet.pl, worth about PLN1 billion and
TVN's core television business.
In such a scenario, Time Warner could have been a likely
candidate to take TVN's television business, while one or several
private equity firms could have bought both Onet.pl and the
television business, leaving Vivendi with the pay-TV unit only. A
third person told Dow Jones Newswires no private equity firm
remains in the running for TVN.
ITI is hoping to sign a sales deal for its TVN stake by the end
of the year, the first person said.
Late last month, ITI Chief Executive Wojciech Kostrzewa said the
deciding factor on the choice of buyer would be the price and that
there was no preferred buyer at that time.
-By Marynia Kruk, Dow Jones Newswires; +48 22 447-2431;
marynia.kruk@dowjones.com
(Noemie Bisserbe in Paris and Marcin Sobczyk in Warsaw
contributed to this article)
Vivendi (PK) (USOTC:VIVHY)
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