Former MGM chief targets Australia’s Nine
May 25, 2012
Harry Sloan, the former chairman of the MGM film studio, has emerged as a potential bidder for a stake in Nine Entertainment, the Australian media company.
The former entertainment lawyer has held early-stage talks with the Asia-Pacific arm of CVC Capital Partners, which owns Nine, and retained bankers to examine a possible bid, these people said.
The move comes as Nine faces a deadline of February 2013 to refinance its debts and has been working on the potential disposal of its magazine business ACP and Ticketek, its ticketing arm.
Nine’s gross earnings are expected to be as high as $360 million in 2011-12, pushed mostly by the success of its television brand and primetime talent show “The Voice”.