Prisa in Deal with Investment Group

MADRID/NEW YORK: Spain’s Group Prisa is to receive a $900 million cash injection via a merger deal with Liberty Acquisition Holdings Corp., a U.S.-based special-purpose acquisition company.

The deal calls for the combination of the two companies and a 150 million euros rights issue. Once the complex share swap is complete, Prisa’s controlling shareholder, the Polanco family, is expected to see its stake fall to some 30 percent.

“The combination with Liberty will allow Prisa to optimize the deleveraging of its balance sheet, and will facilitate the completion of previously announced asset sales,” said Juan Luis Cebrián, Prisa’s CEO. “As a result of the transaction and of the 150 million euros rights issue offered to our current shareholders, Prisa believes it will emerge in a stronger position to pursue growth opportunities in its core businesses in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking markets around the world.”

“Prisa is a global media company with market-leading businesses and a robust portfolio of brands that are widely recognized by Spanish and Portuguese speakers all around the world,” said Nicolas Berggruen, CEO of Liberty Acquisition. “We believe that this combination will help Prisa to complete its financial restructuring plan and positions it for growth over the next few years.”

Liberty’s chairman of the board, Martin E. Franklin, added: “We are confident in Prisa’s potential to increase its digital market penetration, to leverage its print and broadcast content and to accelerate its revenue growth in Latin America.” He continued: “We believe that Digital+, the group’s largest asset and the leading provider of pay-TV services in Spain, will become an engine for future growth by capitalizing on the recently announced partnerships and embracing exciting new technological advancements."