ProSiebenSat.1 Divests Verivox to Italy's Moltiply for $250M
By Maria Martinez, Klaus Lauer and Elvira Pollina
(Reuters) - German media group ProSiebenSat.1 said on Friday it would sell comparison website Verivox to Italy's Moltiply Group for 231 million euros ($250 million) as it seeks to focus more on its core TV broadcasting business.
The German company also said it had adjusted its outlook due to the sale, now aiming for adjusted core earnings of roughly 520 million euros in 2025.
The sale of Verivox and other digital assets is closely scrutinised by ProSieben’s leading investors MFE-MediaForEurope and Czech investment firm PPF.
Both have repeatedly called on ProSieben to part ways with its digital business and focus on its core TV operations.
Selling the digital assets could make it easier for MFE, the TV group controlled by Italy’s Berlusconi family, to launch a takeover bid for ProSieben.
MFE, which holds nearly 30% of ProSieben, secured a 3.4 billion euro financing package to fund a potential takeover of ProSieben, which it could launch later this year under a push to build an ad-funded European broadcaster.
ProSieben on Thursday approved an agreement with U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic on the acquisition of the U.S. firm's minority stakes in dating platform ParshipMeet and internet holding NuCom Group.
The deal with General Atlantic made the German broadcaster the sole owner of the digital assets, removing an obstacle to the sales of Verivox and Flaconi.
($1 = 0.9234 euros)
(Reporting by Tristan Veyet in Gdansk, Maria Martinez and Klaus Lauer in Berlin, Elvira Pollina in Milan, editing by Friederike Heine and Ludwig Burger)
