AXA PE mulling Skyrock sale

The private equity firm has mandated banks Messier Partners and Arjil to look at options for the sale of the business.

The rap and R'n'B station ran into trouble last year as its turnover fell by €8m to €32.7m. Although it posted a €2.5m EBITDA, Skyrock couldn't generate a net profit.

These disappointing results led to mounting tension between majority shareholder AXA Private Equity and Pierre Bellanger, the radio's founder and CEO, who also holds a 30% stake in the business. The company's board replaced him with Marc Laufer as CEO on Tuesday - Bellanger however remains chairman of the board - which caused unrest among Skyrock's staff.

AXA Private Equity backed the secondary buyout of Skyrock from Morgan Grenfell Private Equity and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners in 2006, a deal believed to be worth less than €25m.

Paris-headquartered Skyrock was founded in 1986 and is aimed at a 13-24 year-old listener audience. The company also operates a website and successfully developed a popular platform for blogs with www.skyblog.com.

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