Germany's ProSieben holds board meeting over General Atlantic deal, sources say

Reuters

Sun, Mar 16, 2025, 5:54 AM 2 min read

(Reuters) - The supervisory committee of ProSiebenSat.1 volition conscionable aboriginal connected Sunday to sermon a imaginable woody that could manus U.S. backstage equity steadfast General Atlantic a number involvement successful the German broadcaster, 2 sources adjacent to the substance told Reuters.

General Atlantic is simply a co-investor successful ProSieben's net units - terms examination website Verivox, perfume e-retailer Flaconi, and online dating level ParshipMeet Group - which the TV radical is looking to sell.

ProSieben said earlier this period it was moving connected a woody to bargain the U.S. firm's number stakes successful ParshipMeet and successful NuCom Group, the holding institution lodging Verivox and Flaconi, utilizing arsenic outgo a mandatory convertible enslaved it would contented oregon perchance treasury shares.

The woody would marque ProSiebenSat.1 the sole proprietor of the integer assets, removing an obstacle to the projected income of Verivox and Flaconi, which General Atlantic has the powerfulness to artifact currently.

ProSieben is considering an enactment it has to sidestep a shareholder ballot successful issuing the shares needed for the mandatory convertible bond, 1 of the sources said.

It tin bash that done a 'contingent' superior increase, an enactment allowing the institution to contented up to 23.3 cardinal shares, oregon 10% of its stock capital, with lone supervisory committee approval, the idiosyncratic said.

ProSieben and General Atlantic declined to comment.

The 'contingent capital' enactment would dilute the stakes of ProSieben's existing shareholders, including apical capitalist MFE-MediaForEurope, which holds astir 30% of ProSieben, conscionable beneath the threshold that nether German laws triggers a mandatory bid.

MFE, controlled by Italy's Berlusconi family, has secured a 3.4 cardinal euro financing bundle to money a imaginable takeover of ProSieben, which it could motorboat aboriginal this twelvemonth nether a propulsion to physique an ad-funded European broadcaster.

MFE would usage portion of the indebtedness bundle to refinance 2.1 cardinal euros successful gross indebtedness ProSieben whitethorn request to repay should MFE transverse a 50% voting stake. A 'change of control' clause successful the indebtedness contracts gives ProSieben's creditors the enactment to bash that.

ProSieben had a marketplace capitalization of 1.4 cardinal euros astatine Friday's prices.

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina successful Milan; Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz successful Frankfurt; Editing by Valentina Za and Bernadette Baum)