SBS Broadcasting to Acquire Leading Nordic Premium Pay Television Provider CMore Group AB, Operator of Canal+ Channels, for Euro
February 09 2005 - 1:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
SBS Broadcasting to Acquire Leading Nordic Premium Pay Television
Provider CMore Group AB, Operator of Canal+ Channels, for Euro
269.6 Million - Significantly Expands Existing Television Footprint
in Nordic Region with the Addition of the Operator of the Canal+
and CMore Premium Pay Channels - LUXEMBOURG, Feb. 9
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SBS Broadcasting S.A. (Nasdaq: SBTV;
Euronext Amsterdam N.V.: SBS) announced today that its wholly owned
Swedish subsidiary Kanal 5 Holding AB has agreed to acquire all of
the shares of CMore Group AB for Euro 269.6 million in cash. The
purchase price includes approximately Euro 20 million in cash in
the CMore Group at December 31, 2004. The acquisition, which is
conditional on approvals from local competition authorities, is
expected to close in the second quarter of 2005. The sellers are
primarily private equity funds represented by Baker Capital and
Nordic Capital. CMore Group is the leading Nordic pay entertainment
provider with over 770,000 subscribers in Sweden, Norway, Finland
and Denmark. The only provider of both premium sports and premium
movies in the Nordic region under the Canal+ and CMore brands,
CMore Group enjoys market leading positions in Sweden, Norway and
Finland. The channels are distributed primarily by direct- to-home
satellite (DTH), cable, broadband and increasingly by digital
terrestrial transmission (DTT). In 2004 CMore Group had revenues of
Euro 181 million from channel subscriptions and other sources.
CMore has had positive net income for the last three years and has
no financial debt. Commenting on the announcement, Markus
Tellenbach, Chief Executive Officer of SBS Broadcasting, said:
"With a developing pay television market and increasing demand for
digital entertainment, the Nordic region is the ideal location for
SBS to significantly strengthen its television operations and
expand its footprint. The addition of premium digital pay
television channels combined with our existing digital free and
basic pay channels creates a powerful digital platform for our
viewers, distribution partners and advertisers. We are also gaining
an excellent CMore management team that has delivered impressive
returns across its operations. These new channels will leverage our
existing infrastructure creating additional operating leverage and
new opportunities to drive revenue. The acquisition, which is
immediately accretive to earnings, also significantly diversifies
our revenue streams through the generation of subscription fees. As
a result, following the closing of this transaction more than
one-third of our total revenue will be generated from
non-advertising-related sources." "The acquisition of the Nordic
group of Canal+ channels demonstrates SBS's commitment to its
growth strategy and positions the Company to further capitalize on
the opportunities that digital technology is creating," said Harry
Evans Sloan, Executive Chairman of SBS. "By leveraging our
management expertise and operating infrastructure we are prudently
building upon our existing pan-European footprint to increase and
diversify our revenue streams, while utilizing the strength of our
balance sheet." CMore Group offers a variety of premium pay
services to its subscribers throughout the Nordic region, including
popular sporting events, movies and series. Subscribers in each of
the countries currently have access to five channels: Canal+ offers
a local channel for each of the four Nordic countries featuring
first-run movies and live sporting events. Canal+Film1 and
Canal+Film2 offer today's most popular films, and CMore Film offers
classic and library films. Canal+Sports offers premium national and
international sports. CMore also operates Kiosk, a pay-per-view
channel in the four Nordic countries. CMore has recently launched
CMore a la Carte, a subscription-on- demand service in Sweden.
CMore holds the broadcast rights for most leading national and
international sports properties, including the English FA Premier
League, the Italian Serie A, the top soccer leagues in Sweden and
Norway, the premier Swedish ice hockey league and the NHL. CMore
has exclusive film output agreements with most of the leading
Hollywood studios providing the latest in popular international
films. SG Cowen & Co., LLC acted as the sole financial advisor
to the Company in this transaction. Conference Call The Company
will host a teleconference today, (Wednesday, February 9, 2005) at
10:00 a.m. (New York Time), which is 4:00 p.m. (Luxembourg Time) to
discuss today's announcement. To access the teleconference, please
dial +1-973-321-1100 ten minutes prior to the start time. The
teleconference will also be available via live web-cast on the
Company's Web site, located at http://www.sbsbroadcasting.com/. If
you cannot listen to the teleconference at its scheduled time,
there will be a replay available through February 16, 2005 that can
be accessed by dialing +1-877-519-4471 (U.S. callers) or
+1-973-341-3080 (international callers), pass-code 5701997. The
web-cast will be archived on the Company's Web site for two weeks.
Forward-Looking Statements Some of the statements in this press
release are forward-looking, including, without limitation: the
statement that the Nordic region is the ideal location for SBS to
enhance its television footprint; the addition of premium digital
pay television channels creates a powerful digital platform for our
viewers, distribution partners and advertisers, these new channels
will create additional operating leverage and new opportunities to
drive revenue, that we continue to position the Company to
capitalize on the opportunities that digital technology is
creating; and by leveraging our local management expertise and
operating infrastructure, we are building upon our existing
pan-European footprint. In addition, we may make forward-looking
statements in future filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, and in written material, press releases and oral
statements issued by us or on our behalf. Forward-looking
statements include statements regarding our intent, belief or
current expectations or those of our officers (including statements
preceded by, followed by or that include forward-looking
terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "believes", "expects",
"anticipates", "estimates", "continues" or similar expressions or
comparable terminology) with respect to various matters. It is
important to note that our actual results in the future could
differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking
statements depending on various important factors. Some of these
factors include: the effects of, and changes in, government policy
and regulatory requirements; the ability to receive governmental
approvals necessary in order to complete the transactions; the
effects of changes in general economic environment; the effects of
changes in the advertising spending growth; the effects of
competition; and our success at managing the risks that arise from
these factors. A more detailed discussion of some of these risks is
set forth in SBS's annual report on Form 20F for the year-ended
December 31, 2003. All forward-looking statements in this press
release are based on information available to us on the date
hereof. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking
statements that may be made by us or on our behalf, in this press
release or otherwise. SBS is a European commercial television and
radio broadcasting company with operations in Western and Central
Europe. Countries where SBS currently has broadcasting assets
include: Belgium (Flanders), Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, The
Netherlands, Norway, Romania and Sweden. For further information
visit: http://www.sbsbroadcasting.com/ DATASOURCE: SBS Broadcasting
S.A. CONTACT: Investors: Michael Smargiassi or Jon Lesko, Brainerd
Communicators, +1-212-986-6667; or Press: Jeff Pryor of Pryor
Associates, +1-818-338-3555, or Catriona Cockburn of Citigate Dewe
Rogerson, +44-207-282-2924, all for SBS Broadcasting S.A. Web site:
http://www.sbsbroadcasting.com/
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