Haim Saban, the US media investor, plans to make a second attempt to acquire the assets of the indebted Kirch media empire, according to new reports.
Just six weeks after opting out of a €2 billion deal (see
Kirch TV Deal Hits The Rocks), Saban has apparently returned with a reduced bid for KirchMedia. He continues to have the backing of various private equity groups including Providence Equity Partners, Hellman & Friedman and Thomas H Lee Partners.
The original agreement was scuppered by a rise in the value of the euro against the dollar and there were rumours that Saban was trying to change some of the conditions of the deal.
However, the lure of ProSiebenSat1, Germany’s largest terrestrial broadcaster, has proved too much and the Wall Street Journal claims that the media mogul is willing to offer between €6 and €6.50 a share for KirchMedia.
This is less than the €7.50 tabled last time but may still prove irresistable to creditors who had vowed to put the business into liquidation and inject new investment into ProSieben (see KirchMedia Goes Into Liquidation).
