PE-backed Télédiffusion sells Finnish subsidiary

Amy King
07 August 2012

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Télédiffusion de France (TDF), a French operator of broadcast towers backed by a private equity consortium, has sold its Finnish operation Digita Oy to First State Investments, the overseas investment unit of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

The sale, reported to value Digita at around €400m, is part of TDF's plan to offload operations in peripheral markets and focus on core operations.

First State Investments has more than €2bn of assets under management in Australasia and Europe. The acquisition was completed through the First State European Diversified Infrastructure Fund.

Previous funding
TPG Capital acquired 42% of TDF in 2006, as part of a joint buyout led by AXA Private Equity, estimated to be worth €3.3bn. AXA bought 18% of the company, Charterhouse Capital Partners re-invested to secure 14%, the Fonds Stratégique d'Investissement bought 24% and management held the remaining 2% of the firm.

In 2002, France Télécom sold its stake in TDF to Charterhouse, CDC IXIS Equity Capital and the financial group Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations. The transaction valued TDF at €1.86bn.

Company
Helsinki-based Digita owns and operates 36 broadcasting stations across Finland. The company provides wireless data transfer for television, radio and telecommunications.

In 2011, Digita reported sales totalling €91m, accounting for around 6% of TDF's total sales.

People
Gordon Bonnyman is chairman of Charterhouse Capital Partners. Dirk Wittneben is a managing director at AXA Private Equity. Olivier Huart is CEO of TDF.