Warner Bros Discovery gets at least three bids for Polish broadcaster TVN

By Anna Koper, Amy-Jo Crowley and Elvira Pollina

WARSAW/LONDON (Reuters) - Warner Bros Discovery Inc has received non-binding offers for Polish broadcaster TVN from at least three bidders, sources familiar with the matter and one fund involved told Reuters on Wednesday.

MFE-MediaForEurope, the broadcaster controlled by Italy's Berlusconi family, is among the bidders, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Polish businessman Michal Solowow has also made an offer to buy TVN according to his MS Galleon fund, as has media group WP Holding, a source familiar with the matter said.

MFE's preliminary offer targets only TVN's free-to-air business, the sources said, with one adding that it generates earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of about 500 million zlotys ($123.71 million).

MFE declined to comment.

Reuters reported in December that Warner Bros Discovery was working with advisers at JPMorgan on the sale of TVN Group. Two sources said in December that TVN Group, which includes 24-hour news channels TVN24 and TVN24BiS, could be valued at more than 1 billion euros ($1 billion) in a sale.

"At the invitation of JPMorgan and WBD, we submitted a non-binding offer, considering that this is the type of transaction to which we should respond positively," said Maciej Gorzelinski, from the MS Galleon fund.

Solowow is Poland's richest man according to Forbes, with business interests ranging from chemicals to energy and a fortune of around 27.25 billion zlotys.

WP Holding press officer Michal Siegieda said it did not comment on M&A-related topics.

Warner Bros Discovery Poland had no immediate comment.

TVN holds a 32% stake in Polish pay TV operator Canal+.

STRATEGIC COMPANY

The Polish government said in December it had decided to add several media and telecommunication firms, including TVN, to its list of strategic companies. This means that a takeover of these companies will not be possible without the government's consent, the prime minister said.

The move underlined the significance of TVN in Poland's media landscape as authorities are on high alert for potential interference in presidential elections scheduled for May.

Poland's Radio Zet reported that WP Holding had submitted its offer in consortium with another entity that could be associated with the chief executive of parcel locker firm InPost, Rafal Brzoska.

Brzoska told Bloomberg in an interview published on Monday that he was not interested in buying TVN.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach Brzoska for comment on Wednesday.

U.S. media group Scripps Networks bought a stake in TVN Group in 2015 for $615.3 million, valuing the business at $1.8 billion at the time, and bought the rest of the business later that year.

The company was brought into the Warner Bros Discovery group after Warner Bros' 2022 merger with the Discovery Channel, which owned Scripps.

In December, Warner Bros Discovery decided to separate its declining cable TV businesses, including CNN, from its streaming and studio operations. Under the new structure for Warner Bros Discovery, the cable TV business including TNT, Animal Planet and CNN will be housed in a unit called Global Linear Networks.

TVN Group revenues increased to 2.26 billion zlotys ($557.96 million) in 2023 from 2.14 billion zlotys a year earlier, due to higher advertising and subscriptions revenues, according to company filings in Poland. Net profit was 419.7 million zlotys, up from 331.8 million zlotys in 2022.

($1 = 0.9612 euros)

($1 = 4.0417 zlotys)

(Reporting by Anna Koper and Barbara Erling in Warsaw, Amy-Jo Crowley in London, Elvira Pollina in Milan, Writing by Alan Charlish, Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Mark Potter, Elaine Hardcastle)