Banijay submits binding offer for All3Media – sources

Liberty Global

29/11/2023 21:28

By Amy-Jo Crowley, Paul Sandle and Dawn Chmielewski
       LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Banijay, the French TV
production group owned by FL Entertainment  FLE.AS , has
submitted a binding offer for British rival All3Media, three
people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
    Joint owners Liberty Global  LBTYA.O  and Warner Bros
Discovery  WBD.O  received binding offers for the "Fleabag" and
"The Traitors" maker last week as part of an ongoing sale
process, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
    There was no certainty a deal with Banijay, the maker of
“Big Brother”, “Survivor” and “Black Mirror”, would materialise
and other bidders remained in the process, two of the people
said. 
    Spokespeople for Banijay, Liberty Global, Warner Bros and
All3Media all declined to comment.
    The sellers are expected to award exclusivity to one bidder
as soon as the end of this week, one of the sources said.
    Peter Chernin’s Northroad Company withdrew after submitting
a bid and is no longer in the process, a second person said.
Northroad declined to comment. 
    British broadcaster and production company ITV ITV.L  was in
talks to buy All3Media earlier in the year, but it said in July
it was no longer “actively exploring” a deal. It said it would
continue to “monitor” the situation.
    The two sides could not agree on a price, two people
familiar with the situation said. ITV cited its “disciplined
capital allocation framework” when it said the talks had ended.
ITV declined to comment.
    All3Media’s owners are seeking offers of around 13 times
EBITDA, which would equate to about 1.3 billion pounds based on
its 2022 accounts, a fourth person with knowledge of the process
said. 
   Banijay had revenues of 3.2 billion euros and EBITDA of 472
million euros in 2022, according to its financial reports.
    JPMorgan has been advising Warner Bros Discovery and Liberty
Global on the sale. The two companies bought All3Media in 2014
for an enterprise value of about 550 million pounds.
    Britain is responsible for 35% of its revenue, with the
remainder coming from North America, Germany, the Netherlands,
New Zealand and elsewhere, according to All3Media's reports.

 (Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley, Paul Sandle and Dawn Chmielewski,
editing by Deepa Babington)
 ((Amy-Jo.Crowley@thomsonreuters.com;))