Reuters: Mergers News: UPDATE 1-Mediaset sells its stake in Endemol

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UPDATE 1-Mediaset sells its stake in Endemol Apr 3rd 2012, 08:01 Tue Apr 3, 2012 4:01am EDT * Says stake in Endemol sold in the market * Deal worth 72 million euros - paper * Shares outperform lower Milan market MILAN, April 3 (Reuters) - Italy's biggest commercial broadcaster Mediaset said on Tuesday it had sold its stake in Dutch television production company Endemol, exiting the creator of "Big Brother" after a debt restructuring handed control of the company to creditors. Mediaset, which in March had to slash its traditionally generous dividend to conserve resources in a difficult year, declined to disclose the value of the deal which Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore said was 72 million euros ($96 million). The Milan-based group, controlled by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, said in a statement it had sold in the market a 6 percent share of Endemol's senior debt, corresponding to its entire stake. Mediaset bought 33 percent of Endemol in 2007 before being heavily diluted in a debt-to-equity swap deal last January, when lenders agreed to cut their roughly 2 billion euros of loans to 500 million euros in return for shares. A subsequent deal gave Leon Black's private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC and Dutch investment firm Cyrte Investments BV majority ownership of Endemol. Shares in Mediaset outpaced a lower Milan market on Tuesday. By 0707 GMT the stock was up 1.7 percent at 2.07 euros. "While a 70 million euro cash-in will help in this horrible year for the advertising market, it is too early to say if this move will help Mediaset in achieving better prices for Endemol's content," Mediobanca analyst Fabio Pavan said in a note. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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