After the failure of the merger project with TF1, the German group Bertelsmann would have received, according to information from Le Point, three purchase offers for its 48% of the M6 channel, from Xavier Niel allied to the Italian Silvio group. Berlusconi, the Czech Daniel Kretinsky and the trio Stéphane Courbit-Rodolphe Saadé-Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière. The three suitors are said to have each offered more than 1.1 billion euros.
The battle promises to be fierce: at least three takeover bid proposals from the M6 group were presented to the Bertelsmann group on Saturday, September 24, confirmed in theAFP from consistent sources.
The proposals were presented by a tandem formed by Xavier Niel (Iliad group) and MediaForEurope (the television group founded by Silvio Berlusconi), by the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, already present in several French media (She, television 7 days, modern woman, Marianneminority shareholder of WorldTF1 and, more recently, financier of Release), and by FL Entertainment, the listed audiovisual production and sports betting group controlled by Stéphane Courbit, partnered for the occasion with Rodolphe Saadé, owner of the shipping giant CMA-CGM, a recent purchaser of provenceand to Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, head of Fimalac (theatres, production, Webedia in digital media).
According to Point, the three candidates have submitted an offer of more than 19.20 euros per share, that is, an investment of 1,100 million euros to buy the German giant’s stake in M6. On Friday, M6 was trading on the stock market at €1.86 billion. Among those who had already consulted the file last year, Vivendi (Canal+, Prisma Media), Altice (SFR, BFM, RMC) and NRJ did not reformulate their offer.
Bertelsmann Group declined to comment. Through its subsidiary RTL Group, it owns around 48% of the capital of the M6 group (TV channels M6, W9, 6ter, Teva, Gulli and radio stations RTL, RTL2, Fun Radio).
Aborted merger with TF1
At the beginning of 2021, Bertelsmann, who wants to withdraw from the French market, made the risky decision to merge M6 with its rival TF1. But this marriage was suddenly canceled a week ago due to the reluctance of the Competition Authority, which conditioned its green light on the sale of the TF1 or M6 channels to another player, to avoid the creation of a giant that, according to the[…]