GERMANY – KKR and Permira to restructure ProSiebenSat1 debt

The two buyout houses originally invested in the listed business in January 2007, acquiring a 50.5% stake in a deal valued at around EUR 3.1bn. Debt for the transaction, which represented around two-thirds of the overall deal value, was provided by an international syndicate of banks comprising Lehman Brothers, HypoVereinsbank, Credit Suisse, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of America and JP Morgan.

In July 2007, the company completed the bolt-on acquisition of sector rival SBS Broadcasting Group for around EUR 3.3bn. Later in December 2007, the investors upped their stake in ProSiebenSat1 through the acquisition of a 12% interest held by publishing group Axel Springer AG thought to be worth EUR 509.4m.

The listed broadcaster has since seen its share price plummet over the last ten months by more than 90%, recently announcing it would not pay a dividend.

Munich-headquartered ProSiebenSat1 owns Germany's largest family of commercial TV channels - Sat.1, ProSieben, kabel eins and N24 - and is one of the largest pan-European broadcasting groups, with over 26 commercial TV stations, 24 pay TV channels and 22 radio networks. The company is listed in the German MDAX and employs a staff of 6,000.

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