It was announced on Friday that UPC Ireland, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Global plc has entered into an agreement with Doughty Hanson to acquire TV3, the leading commercial broadcaster in Ireland, for a purchase price of €80 million with an additional contingent consideration of up to €7 million payable based on TV3 hitting certain targets.
The purchase price is expected to be substantially funded through existing liquidity.
On completion of the acquisition, TV3 will become part of Liberty Global.
This acquisition will be subject to regulatory approval from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and a separate media plurality test by the Irish Government. It is expected the transaction will be cleared in the coming months.
CEO of UPC Ireland, Magnus Ternsjö said, "We’re pleased to welcome TV3 to the Liberty Global family. The investment we are making today secures the long-term future of TV3.
With its wide range of home-grown programming, TV3 holds a unique place in the heart of Irish viewers. This is a terrific addition to the TV service we offer - which is already the best in Ireland."
TV3 operates two free-to-air channels, the flagship TV3 channel and the youth-oriented 3e. In addition, it has TV3+1 on UPC and SKY, and 3PLAYER, the most widely distributed Video-on-Demand platform in the country.
TV3 is the number one channel in Ireland after public broadcaster RTÉ1 with an audience share of 12%. In 2014, the TV3 Group achieved its best set of operating results since 2008.
Source: www.businessworld.ie