AXA PE sells 30% stake in Skyrock to Crédit Agricole

The 30% stake would reportedly be valued in the €20-30m range.

Crédit Agricole teamed up with chairman Pierre Bellanger, who will bring its 30% stake in the radio station to a new holding company. The newco - owned at 49% by the bank and 51% by Bellanger - will own 60% of Skyrock.

Meanwhile, AXA Private Equity is still looking to sell its remaining interest in the business.It mandated banks Messier Partners and Arjil to look at options for the sale of the company.

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 Bellanger. The company's board replaced him with Marc Laufer as CEO last week - Bellanger however remains chairman of the board - which caused unrest among Skyrock's staff.

Previous funding
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.

Company
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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