German Broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Approached About Sale of Nordic Assets

6:48 AM PDT 8/30/2012 by Georg Szalai, Scott Roxborough

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The company, controlled by private equity groups, last year sold off its Dutch and Belgian holdings.

German broadcast giant ProSiebenSat.1 Media confirmed Thursday that it has been approached about a potential acquisition of its Scandinavian assets.

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A spokesman told THR that the company is evaluating offers to see if they are serious and if price tags offered are appropriate.

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Bloomberg News had reported that the firm's financial adviser JPMorgan Chase had been approached by several parties.

The company's holdings in Scandinavia, which include TV channels Kanal 5 and Kanal 9 in Sweden and broadcasters TV Norge, FEM, Vox and Max in Norway, could be worth 1.4 billion euros ($1.75 billion) or more, it said.

ProSiebenSat.1 last year also sold off its Dutch and Belgian broadcasting and print assets to reduce its debt, but decided to keep its Scandinavian holdings. A sale of the Nordic business would further sell off parts of SBS Broadcasting, with which it merged a few years ago.

Previous reports had said that Discovery Communications was among those interested in the Scandinavian businesses. Discovery wasn't immediately available for comment.

ProSiebenSat.1 is majority-owned by private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Permira.

Its stock was up 3.3 percent as of mid-day.