KKR and Permira fully exit ProSiebenSat.1

The shares were sold via an accelerated bookbuilding process with institutional investors. Based on the closing share price on January 16, the stake would have been valued at €1.27bn. The GPs are however understood to have sold their shares at a small discount.

Permira reaped an overall multiple of 1.2x original cost following the final exit, according to a source close to the situation.

KKR and Permira originally acquired a 50% stake in ProSiebenSat.1 via newco Lavena Holding 4 in January 2007, in a deal valued at €3.1bn. The company, which was valued at approximately €5.9bn at the time, was bought from German Media Partners, a consortium including financial investors Saban Capital Group, Bain Capital Partners, Hellman & Friedman, Thomas H Lee Partners, Providence Equity Partners, Quadrangle Group and Alpine Equity Partners. Later that year, the GPs bought a further 12% stake previously held by publishing group Axel Springer, worth €509.4m.

In February last year, the buyout houses divested a €485m chunk of ProSiebenSat.1 on the Frankfurt stock exchange. The divestment reduced KKR and Permira's stake to 44%. Prior to this, KKR and Permira exited SBS, ProSiebenSat.1's Nordic subsidiary, to trade buyer Discovery Communications for €1.325bn in December 2012.

KKR and Permira sold an 11% stake in the media giant in September 2013, which further reduced their stake to 33%. The GPs sold approximately 25 million shares in a transaction that was said to be valued at around €760m. KKR and Permira sold 35 million shares, equating to a 16% stake, in November last year. The sale was valued at around €1.1bn.

In 2009, KKR and Permira were reported to have restructured around €2bn of ProSiebenSat.1's debt.

Company
ProSiebenSat.1 is one of Germany's largest TV broadcasting companies, with well-known channels such as SAT.1, ProSieben, kabel eins, sixx, SAT.1 Gold and ProSieben Maxx broadcasting across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Operating under the name Red Arrow Entertainment Group, the firm also produces international TV programmes.

Employing 3,000 staff across 12 countries, the firm is based in Unterföhring, near Munich. ProSiebenSat.1 was founded in 2000. In 2012, the firm reported revenues of €2.35bn and an EBITDA of €680.4m.

People
Johannes Huth and Lord Hollick represented KKR at the time of the initial acquisition, while Thomas Krenz and Götz Mäuser led the transaction for Permira. Thomas Ebeling is ProSiebenSat.1's CEO.

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