Creditors of German media group KirchMedia are to liquidate the business rather than pump new capital into it.
The company is in the hands of its four creditor banks – Commerzbank, Bayerische Landesbank, DZ Bank and HVB Group – after the collapse last year of its parent, German media empire Kirch Gruppe.
Earlier this month, the proposed sale to US billionaire Haim Saban fell through [WAMN: 06-Jun-03], and the banks have now decided not to continue pouring money into the business.
The new plan is to inject up to €300 million ($355m; £211m) into German TV giant ProSiebenSat.1, in which KirchMedia holds a controlling stake. The banks will provide around €150m of this capital, the remainder coming from KirchMedia.
The cash injection – to take place this year or in early 2004 – was approved by ProSieben shareholders Monday.
As KirchMedia is broken up, ProSieben will gain the rights to 2,000 titles in the Kirch rights library in a cut-price ten-year deal. In return, the banks will receive a share of the ad income earned from the programmes. The rest of the library will be sold off.
Data sourced from: multiple sources; additional content by WARC staff
