Paris, Sept. 26 (BNA) French media mogul Stephane Courbet and his co-investors are said to have offered a 20-euro ($19) stake in Bertelsmann SE & Co.’s stake in TV company Groupe M6, Bloomberg News reported.
The offer is a 39% premium to Friday’s closing price of €14.43 per share, and the 48% stake is valued at around €1.22 billion.
The report, citing a person familiar with the matter, said that Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky had made an offer to buy the stake.
Reuters could not immediately reach Corbett for comment. RTL declined to comment while M6 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters reported last week that a consortium of prominent French entrepreneurs including billionaire Rodolphe Saade and Courbet of television production group Banegay and investor Marc Ladret de la Charriere was in the lead for the deal.
Meanwhile, Italian broadcaster MediaForEurope has joined with French billionaire Xavier Niel to make a non-binding offer to buy a controlling stake in M6, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
In March 2021, when Bertelsmann confirmed talks to sell its stake, French media reported that the RTL stake was worth €1.5 billion ($1.48 billion), and the entire M6 was valued at around €3 billion.
Initial cash offers for RTL’s 48.3% stake in M6 were expected by noon last Friday after a joint scheme between the company and fellow French broadcaster TF1 collapsed the previous week.