Do you want it or not ?
Media giant Bertelsmann, parent company of RTL Group, has finally decided to retain its majority stake of 48.3% in Groupe M6.
Several “financially attractive” offers were however on the table according to the press release published on Monday.
According to several sources, an offer came from FL Entertainment, a listed audiovisual production and sports betting group controlled by Frenchman Stéphane Courbit, associated in particular for the occasion with Rodolphe Saadé, the boss of the shipping giant CMA-CGM.
This proposal valued Bertelsmann's stake in M6 at around 1.2 billion euros.
The second offer was signed by billionaire Xavier Niel (Iliad group), present both in production via the Mediawan group and in content distribution via the operator Free.
The businessman had teamed up for the occasion with the Berlusconi family, which controls the MediaForEurope group (formerly Mediaset).
“Legal risks and uncertainties”
The Bertelsmann group sought to sell its majority stake in the capital of M6 (owner of the M6, W9, 6ter, Gulli and Paris Première channels and RTL, RTL2 and Fun Radio radios) after the failure of the merger with TF1, which was abandoned because reluctance from the Competition Authority.
Its leader Thomas Rabe explained Monday this reversal by "the legal risks and uncertainties" linked to the authorization of the sale by the various regulatory and competition authorities.
The authorization to broadcast M6 on DTT must be renewed in May 2023 by the audiovisual regulator, Arcom, after which any change in frequency control will be impossible for five years, as provided for by law.
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