CME Ups Studio 1+1 Stake to 90 Percent

HAMILTON, July 1: Central European
Media Enterprises (CME) has completed its acquisition of a further 30 percent
in Ukraine’s Studio 1+1 group, raising its ownership stake to 90 percent.

As previously announced,
the 30-percent stake includes interests subject to options that Igor Kolomoisky
assigned to CME. The price was $219.6 million, of which $79.6 million was paid
in cash to Boris Fuchsmann and Alexander Rodnyansky and $140 million went to Kolomoisky.

The remaining 10 percent,
held by Fuchsmann and Rodnyansky, is subject to a put and call option. The put
option has an initial minimum price of $95.4 million, which increases to $102.3
million from the first anniversary of the completion and to $109.1 million or
an independent valuation—whichever is higher—from the second
anniversary of the completion. The call price is initially set at $109.1
million.

The Ukrainian media
council has reissued the license for Studio 1+1 reflecting the new ownership
structure. The station launched in 1997 and reaches almost 47 million people
with an all-day audience share in the 18-plus demographic group of 13 percent
and a prime-time audience share of 14.6 percent in the first six months of
2008.

Michael Garin, CME's CEO, commented: "Completion of this acquisition
represents the successful execution of our longstanding goal. I would like to
thank Boris Fuchsmann and Alexander Rodnyansky for their outstanding
contribution in developing Studio 1+1 to its current position. Ukraine
represents more than 50 percent of the total population within the CME
footprint. Our objective is now to integrate all of our key Ukraine assets and
build Ukraine into our largest business in the CME family."

Adrian Sarbu, CME's COO,
added: "Ukraine is a huge opportunity for CME and we will now work towards
clear market leadership. We will focus on local content production and the
transfer of expertise from our other markets. Sole control of our operations
gives us the ability to drive growth and margins as we did in the Slovak
Republic. We believe our Ukraine business can be just as profitable and
successful as our other markets."

—By Mansha Daswani