France’s Mediawan Makes Bid to Acquire Groupe AB

PARIS: The media investment consortium Mediawan has entered into negotiations to purchase Groupe AB for €270 million ($288 million).

Founded by Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse, Mediawan has made an offer to acquire 100 percent of the outstanding shares of Groupe AB. The group is currently owned by its founder Claude Berda (53 percent), together with TF1 (33.5 percent) and the management team (13.5 percent). Groupe AB is primarily involved in producing and distributing series, TV movies, cartoons and documentaries, as well as in editing TV channels and bundled digital services.

“With Groupe AB, we have the opportunity to acquire a leading player with a strong potential for growth acceleration through channels, digital and production,” said Capton, Mediawan’s CEO and chairman of the management board. “Groupe AB is an excellent first step in Mediawan’s objective to create a large dynamic platform to aggregate premium content through future acquisitions, in line with objectives set at the time of the IPO. This platform will aim to aggregate premium traditional and digital media content in all dimensions and provide strong value creation for all stakeholders.”

“I am very happy that Groupe AB will be the starting point of Mediawan’s growth story by becoming its first acquisition,” said Berda, the chairman of Groupe AB. “The proposed transaction is a great opportunity to increase the visibility of Groupe AB while providing it with additional access to financing to accelerate its growth and its international and digital expansion.”