Bertelsmann Won’t Proceed with RTL Buyout

LUXEMBOURG, December 20: Bertelsmann said today that it will
not go ahead with a public offer for the remaining 10 percent it doesn’t
already own in the RTL Group.

Announcing the decision, Bertelsmann said there was “insufficient
certainty” that the move would be approved under the terms of the Luxembourg
takeover law. “Since the legal basis for Bertelsmann to increase its
shareholding in RTL Group to 
100 percent appears to be insufficiently
certain, Bertelsmann has now decided not to proceed with the recently
contemplated offer.”

The company noted, however, that it “reserves the right to
increase its shareholding in RTL Group and continues to assess all routes that
are or may become available so as to achieve its strategic goal of taking RTL
Group private.”

RTL Group, which operates 42 TV channels and 32 radio
stations in 10 European countries, and owns FremantleMedia, delivered revenues
of 2.9 billion euros in the first half of this year, about 32 percent of Bertelsmann’s
total revenues, with EBIT of 482 million euros. It is Bertelsmann’s most
profitable division.

—By Mansha Daswani