Permira denies Pro7 sale plan
June 6, 2011
By Chris Forrester
Permira Advisors, majority owners of German commercial broadcaster ProSieben/Sat.1, isn’t planning to sell the stations “today or tomorrow” according to an interview given by Joerg Rockenhaeuser, who looks after the fund’s German operations.
His interview was with Sueddeutsche Zeitung. To date, most observers have seen a sale as being on the cards but this latest statement seems to confirm previous reports that sale plans have been pushed back – if not postponed for at the least the time being. One aspect is that Pro7/Sat1’s share price continues to fall making a sale unlikely until the share price recovers. Permira, along with fellow investment house KKR, control 88 percent of Pro7/Sat1’s stock. Last November Pro7/Sat1’s share price stood at a reasonable $34 a share. The price has since tumbled more than 30 per cent to below $24.
Rumoured interested parties in a possible sell-off include News Corp or Germany’s giant Springer group.