By Klaus Lauer and Elvira Pollina
BERLIN/MILAN (Reuters) – The supervisory board of ProSiebenSat.1 has put on hold a potential deal that could hand U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic a minority stake in the German broadcaster, sources told Reuters on Monday.
General Atlantic is a co-investor in ProSieben’s internet units – price comparison website Verivox, perfume e-retailer Flaconi, and online dating platform ParshipMeet Group – which the TV group is looking to sell.
ProSieben said earlier this month it was working on a deal to buy the U.S. firm’s minority stakes in ParshipMeet and in NuCom Group, the holding company housing Verivox and Flaconi, using as payment a mandatory convertible bond it would issue.
But ProSiebenSat.1’s supervisory board on Sunday did not give the required support to the potential deal with GA and asked for the management to seek a renegotiation under different terms before reassessing it, according to the sources.
The deal with General Atlantic would make ProSiebenSat.1 the sole owner of the digital assets, removing an obstacle to the proposed sales of Verivox and Flaconi, which General Atlantic has the power to block currently.
A key issue scrutisined by the supervisory board was the terms of a so called “contingent” capital increase, an option allowing the company to issue up to 23.3 million shares, or 10% of its share capital, the sources said.
The contingent capital option would dilute the stakes of ProSieben’s existing shareholders, including top investor MFE-MediaForEurope, which holds nearly 30% of ProSieben, just below the threshold that under German laws triggers a mandatory bid.
ProSieben, General Atlantic and MFE declined comment.
MFE, controlled by Italy’s Berlusconi family, has secured a 3.4 billion euro financing package to fund a potential takeover of ProSieben, which it could launch later this year under a push to build an ad-funded European broadcaster.
(Reporting by Klaus Lauer and Elvira Pollina; writing by Matthias Williams; editing by David Evans)
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