France: Mediawan acquires AB Groupe
January 31, 2017
By Chris Forrester
French pay-TV broadcaster AB Groupe has been bought by Mediawan.
Mediawan is the media investment consortium set up by production producer Pierre-Antoine Capton, Iliad Telecom founder Xavier Niel and Lazard France head Matthieu Pigasse.
Mediawan is paying €270 million for AB Groupe, which is owned by Claude Berda and French commercial network TF1 (33.5 per cent). Mediawan says it will need to raise €130 million in order to complete the transaction.
The purchase is subject to approval by shareholders, and a vote is scheduled for March 13th. The acquisition would place Mediawan as France’s second-largest pay-TV broadcaster.
Mediawan has plans to launch a rival OTT service to Netflix in France.